Words tend to get stuck in my head now and then, often seemingly odd ones at that. I have no idea why the word "plastic" even sprang into my thoughts a few days ago, but as is so often the case, the word, as I dug into it's varied meanings, held a wealth of symbolism.
Most people think of it as something fake, man-made, the stuff of kitchen bowls and cheap imitations of better things . . the very symbol of materialism. I remember, though, somewhere deep in my memory, it could was also used in conjunction to the tectonic plates that our earth's surface supposedly rests upon, that the solid ground beneath our feet is merely "plastic" . . meaning it is capable of being shaped or formed, malleable, ever-changing. Never fully stagnant or enduring?
One shade of meaning hints that it can also mean “easily influenced, impressionable”. Not so good, unless you are trying to teach something helpful to someone. I guess it also depends on who or what it is that is impressing itself into the object. I wish sometimes I were more impressionable by God’s loving heart.
Yet another meaning is to be “capable of withstanding stress without injury”. Oh my dear Lord, how I wish I were more “plastic” in this sense of the meaning! Yet another subtle variation is that plastic is supple, flexible, soft. Good or bad, depending on the forces that shape it, right? We as Christians yearn for a soft, tender heart, as He has . . one that comforts the comfortless, and loves beyond understanding.
So in some sense, I wish I were more of a Plastic Christian.
I'm out of time, but think I've not yet plumbed the depths of this word entirely . .
Most people think of it as something fake, man-made, the stuff of kitchen bowls and cheap imitations of better things . . the very symbol of materialism. I remember, though, somewhere deep in my memory, it could was also used in conjunction to the tectonic plates that our earth's surface supposedly rests upon, that the solid ground beneath our feet is merely "plastic" . . meaning it is capable of being shaped or formed, malleable, ever-changing. Never fully stagnant or enduring?
One shade of meaning hints that it can also mean “easily influenced, impressionable”. Not so good, unless you are trying to teach something helpful to someone. I guess it also depends on who or what it is that is impressing itself into the object. I wish sometimes I were more impressionable by God’s loving heart.
Yet another meaning is to be “capable of withstanding stress without injury”. Oh my dear Lord, how I wish I were more “plastic” in this sense of the meaning! Yet another subtle variation is that plastic is supple, flexible, soft. Good or bad, depending on the forces that shape it, right? We as Christians yearn for a soft, tender heart, as He has . . one that comforts the comfortless, and loves beyond understanding.
So in some sense, I wish I were more of a Plastic Christian.
I'm out of time, but think I've not yet plumbed the depths of this word entirely . .
