If you can't roll it up in your apron...
When running a game, we all
wore money aprons in order to keep close tabs on what we took in and to
quickly make change. Filling that apron with as much money as possible
was most workers’ nightly goal, and at the end of the night, we all
rolled up our aprons tightly, tied them, and took them to the boss for
counting. Throughout the evening, if someone was doing something that
didn’t contribute to making money, they would be scolded (or yelled at,
if the boss saw them), being told “If you can’t roll it up in your
apron, don’t mess with it.” The most common side-tracking issue that
came up was flirting. For some workers, that was their way to bring
players to their games, but others just got people who would plant
themselves at the edge of the game, not playing the game, just trying to
get attention. When someone yelled “You can’t roll it up in your
apron!” that was the carney way of saying “Get them away from your game
if they’re not playing!” Workers who were side-tracked weren’t filling
that apron with cash.
As Christians, we’ve been given
spiritual jobs…we’re to make and teach disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and
to love God and our neighbors (Mark 12:30-31). Ever known, or been, a
Christian who got side-tracked on that? Human nature wars with
spiritual discipline…straying from, or staying on, the path…wanting
things (possessions, attention, power) more than wanting what God would
have us do.
May we remember the crucial advice given to us in Matthew 6:16-20: “Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal.“ Now there’s something we can roll up in our aprons!
Leaona Ellis 