The Red Carpet
Are you the type of person who always wants to know the origin of something that others see and just take at face value? You like to dig below the surface into the “who, what, where, when, why.” Take for example the red carpet seen at tonight’s Academy Awards. Some people see the red carpet and don’t think any more about it while others see it and desire to know the origin of laying down a red carpet.
The red carpet is associated with status and celebrity. Red carpet traditionally has been used to mark routes walked by heads of states or other dignitaries on formal or ceremonial occasions. . Its origin likely dates back to ancient Greece and the classical play “Agamemnon” written in 458 B.C. by Aeschylus. The main character in the play, King Agamemnon himself, returning after a ten-year absence, is greeted by his vengeful wife Clytemnestra, who lays down a crimson red and purple carpet for him to walk upon. In 1902 the New York Central Railroad used plush red carpets to direct passengers as they boarded the “20th Century Limited” trains, thus the origin of “red carpet treatment” was born. In 1961, a red carpet was laid down at the Oscars to guide celebrities from their cars to the theater. And finally, by the 1990s, the red carpet turned into the celebrity event it is today.
And continuing to dig, how the actual award itself got the nickname “Oscar” has very differing and disputed origins. One claim is that in 1931, Margaret Herrick, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Executive Director, said the statuette reminded her of “Uncle Oscar,” her nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce. About that same time, actress Bette Davis, who was the Academy’s President, claimed she named it after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson. And gossip columnist Sidney Skolsky also claimed to have coined the name.
Sometimes it is fine to just look above the surface and other times it might be important to dig a little deeper. If you are truly interested in a particular topic, these days there are endless sources and methods to do research and find what you are looking for. Some of those sources are reliable, others not so much. It does take real discernment to know what is fact and what is fiction.
One area we often try to figure out, and always come up short, is trying to understand the ways of God. God works how God works and it is up to us to be faithful. If we knew all the answers to how and why God works, it wouldn’t really be faith now would it? And even if we knew those answers, we wouldn’t always understand.
At the end of the 11th Chapter in the Book of Romans we read this doxology, “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (11:33-36).
Our role, as followers of Jesus, is simple. We are called to be obedient and trust God in all things, even when those things don’t make sense. Proverbs 3:5 tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” That verse is the what and v.6 gives us the why, “in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
So, my challenge to all of us is this … focus less on trying to figure out the why’s and why nots of God and more on trusting that He is in control and that His plan is way greater than any plan we could ever dream up.
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