MCH2MCH

That is the license plate on a vehicle I saw on my way home today. I tried guessing names and then it hit me–“much too much.” I thought it was a weird message in that I had no idea what the driver was trying to communicate.

They could have been making a political statement about our outgoing governor or a senator from New York. However, if that was the objective, I couldn’t decipher that from the message on the plate. I wondered then whether the driver was making a prideful boast. Like, I’m much too much for you to handle. Again, that didn’t seem to be the short communication people would see and understand. I wracked my brain to come up with another scenario, but anything else seemed even less likely to be accurate. Then, I wondered why someone would go to the effort and expense of a vanity plate?

I’ve written about the guy I worked with that secured the “Actuary” license plate (even though he wasn’t finished with his exams and wasn’t a credentialed actuary). It seems people pursue a vanity plate because they want to communicate something to others.

Patrick, for example, has said a couple of times that his tattoos are communicating his love for Christ. Because I don’t have any tattoos, I’ve asked a few people about theirs (as a communication icebreaker) and, without fail, their eyes light up and they explain why they got the tattoo and why it is important to them. For them, it is a way to communicate something they are passionate about.

I then thought about other trappings of ourselves. I sat behind this young lady recently and several times she reached back to fluff her shoulder-length hair away from her neck. I assumed (but didn’t ask) her longer hair was warm and she fluffed it to get some air on the back of her neck. But this begs the question of why people choose long hair.

I jump out of the shower and dry my hair with my towel, brush it, and, for the most part, I’m done. I compare this to my wife, who probably spends 15 minutes or so drying her hair with her special equipment. I concluded that we all do things (clothes, hair, jewelry, tattoos, license plates) because we want others to notice and make ourselves feel better.

“And he said, ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’” - Mark 7:20-23 ESV

I’m not suggesting most of these trappings are sinful in nature or use, but I am suggesting I need to be cognizant of my motivation, who I’m trying to communicate with (and why).

For example, I wear a wedding band. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve removed my wedding band (mostly surgeries). To me, it is an outward symbol of the inner commitment I made to my wife more than 40 years ago. This is almost the same verbiage I’ve heard Patrick use when talking about adult baptisms–an outward expression of an inner commitment.

Part of my daily devotion time has been reading quotes from C.S. Lewis. For about the last week, they’ve all been on humility. I thought I understood the Bible’s teachings on humility until I read some of Lewis’ musings. He points out, rightfully so, that humility expressed to impress others is not humility but pride. Just as bad, humility expressed as downgrading one’s own accomplishments is just a different form of (negative) pride. Today, I read a section where he suggested the goal should be to appreciate all the magnificence created by men using God’s gifts, whether they are your own or someone else’s.

That is what I pray to communicate.