son of the cloud

I don't even understand how he stays in one piece. When he passes me in the hallway and our sleeves brush, it's a violent force I didn't think possible from such minimal contact. He's always moving, always making some sort of verbal noise, whether shouting that he's got the hot pans out of the oven, bellowing pleasantries and startling customers, or (a few days ago) rapping about the jobs he's doing. He makes my head ache, and I know I'm not the only one who sighs with relief when he retreats to the bakery.

All day long, there is chatter about him, whether over the headsets or face to face. What does he think he's doing? What kind of bake list has he made up? Why is he shouting? Is he . . . rapping . . . again? He's a presence that cannot be ignored, that is certain.

And most of the chatter isn't positive. He's annoying, he refuses to listen, he's learning too slowly, he doesn't really fit . . . so they say. Somehow, I find this comforting. It's nice to know that I'm no longer the most incompetent employee, a relief to be sure that they're not talking about me on the headsets I'm banned from during mornings, delightful to be siding with my coworkers and not feeling like an outsider.

He dances his way down the hallway and I hear the whispers begin. Under my breath, I snicker; they're exactly right in what they're saying, and it's pretty funny. But just as I open my mouth to say the same sorts of things, something hits in my chest, right in the center of the breastbone.

He is just like you.

I freeze, clench my fingers at my task. No. That can't be true.

It is true. He is like you--impossible to understand, and harder to love. But that didn't stop Me from choosing you.

I reflect. I was loved before I was anything, before I even acknowledged my God. I am loved when I raise my hand against Him, when I scream that I will do anything but that!

It's times like these, when it's hardest, that I know I must heed that instruction of all instructions, or fly in the face of all I say I believe.

Love, without demands, without mockery, without feelings of superiority. Love the unlovely; love the obnoxious. Love the dirty and the rotten and the wicked. Love without fear of the pain you know will come.
Love as I loved you.

It is not really just a suggestion.