The three-pocket salute

Whenever I leave the house, I go through the same ritual.  I touch my right-front pocket for my keys, my back right pocket for my wallet and my front left pocket for my phone.  Slap, slap, slap.  Okay, I’m ready to go.

I’m not sure why I have mentally connected this with a salute.  Who am I saluting?  The day?  This particular errand?  Private BVP reporting for duty, SIR!

This morning, I read in Exodus 29 that part of the ritual ordination of the priests was to…

“… take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet.” (v. 17)

It’s an interesting combination.  The thought could be that the ear represents listening to the instruction of the Lord.  The thumb is the predominant digit on a hand – the way that one takes action.  Likewise, the toe is the lead for the foot – referencing where one goes.

But note that these are on the RIGHT hand and the RIGHT foot.  Considering that the right was the place of honor, these body parts remind the priests to honor God in all they did, everywhere they went.

The three items in my pockets are also symbolic. 

My wallet represents who I am: it has my driver’s license, officially proving I am who I say I am.  It also conveys my financial wherewithal.  

My keys are the modern equivalent of a toe.  They denote my mobility, a reminder of the places I will go and the tasks I will do.

My phone is a catch-all.  But I’ll narrow its role to my involvement with larger society – the people I engage with both on a personal and a cultural level.

It’s entirely appropriate to dedicate these things to the Lord.  Who I am.  Where I go.  How I engage others.  To be a follower of Jesus means to apply his sanctifying blood to every aspect of one’s life – to ordain them for his use.  And it’s not a bad idea to have a ritual to remind us.

I think I just figured out who I’ll be saluting each time I leave the house.

Lord, we dedicate our wallets, our keys and our phones to you.  They’re just symbols, but powerful ones.  We want everything in our lives to be a part of the work that you’re doing in us and through us.  Ever, only, all for Thee.

Reader: Do you have a daily ritual of commitment to the Lord?  I’d love to hear about it.