Five Minute Friday: Loyal

Since I played Friday 5 today, why not take 5 to write on this late August late Friday afternoon? As usual, Kate Motaung hosts; loyal is our prompt.

Loyal! If you're loyal to a brand, a person, or a confession of faith, it's similar to trusting, to having faith in that entity. It is right and true. I know it won't let me down—in other words, it will be loyal to me, as well.

We've all encountered many many instances of look-alike packaging, products, and fashion designs at retail prices lower than the supposed real thing—most often at the dollar or discount store, sometimes elsewhere. Knock-offs. As a designer and as a creative in general, I know there are legal limits on how far imitation can go without getting the imitator hauled into court and possibly jail. Someone (like myself) who admittedly tends to be "quite a people-pleaser" often deals with misplaced loyalties in attempts to please other people, but to express it in a healthier way, a lot of my people pleasing is because I simply want to be included, to become part of the party. [Not to worry, because I'm also quite an iconoclast.]

So is loyalty to a brand name, to a designer, misplaced or not, is it good or is it bad? Maybe indifferent? Some brands will be loyal back at you: Apple/Macintosh; Audi; Levis®; Best Foods/Hellmann's Mayonnaise. But for the most part, they seek that market niche or consumer corner because they necessarily want steady income from their output. So take your consumer preferences for what they're worth.

When we read scripture we learn about the testimony, the witness, the loyalty to God and to God's people of countless generations of saints, yet every single person, family, and other group mostly displays not so much human loyalty as God's loyalty because it's all about grace. It's gift.