July 2016
Devotion for July 13, 2016
13/07/16 12:48
Greetings!!
My husband needed a new groomer - you know one of those beard trimmers that depending on the size of the blade can make your beard barely visible or fluffy like a neat Grizzly Adams. My husband has had a beard for most of the time I have known him and to keep the facial hair respectable enough to be around other people he has to use this groomer on a regular basis. And since he has had the beard so long he has gone through a good number of these little hand held beard shavers. And once again the current groomer had given its life for the worthy cause of my husband's beard and we needed a new one.....
Off I went to the store to purchase the new groomer and a few other items that I needed and after my successful store visit I returned home.
I unpacked my bags and the next step was to get my husband’s groomer ready for his use.
My task of getting this new groomer set up was a much more daunting amount of work than I had ever imagined. Why? Plastic. The newly purchased groomer was sealed in what I have termed ‘miracle plastic’. I named it ‘miracle plastic’ because it is a miracle that you can ever get something out of it. And this newly bought groomer was no exception. I began the arduous endeavor of releasing the groomer from its package made of "I bet you can't ever get into this package' miracle plastic.
Forget just opening the package. Miracle plastic is sealed all the way around and no amount of tugging or ripping or trying to manipulate the plastic apart will work. I decided that what I needed was a pair of scissors to try and snip open the plastic that was designed to never be broken open. But, alas, I remembered that one of my purchases at the store had been a new pair of scissors because the pair I had mysteriously disappeared…..
Guess what - the scissors I so desperately needed to open the groomer encased with miracle plastic was also encased in miracle plastic.
I then resorted to - the knife. Not probably the smartest route or the safest, but what was one to do if you wanted anything set free from this plastic that was holding your item prisoner! Even with the knife the job seemed impossible. If someone had walked in my house at that moment they would have probably heard the theme music from the shower scene in Psycho as I kept stabbing my miracle plastic wrapped groomer trying to at least punch a hole in it so I could eventually retrieve my purchase!
And so I did. After what seemed like a lengthy period of time I eventually cracked a corner of the welded plastic with my knife and I was able to reach in and pull the plastic apart and “eureka!” I finally had my groomer - Free!! Free at last!
But in order to use the groomer, I needed some AA batteries. I believed I had a pack in a drawer somewhere and the search proved fruitful and I found a pack of the batteries I needed to make the groomer work….. guess what? The batteries were wrapped in miracle plastic.
I signed - knowing that once again I was going to have to use herculean methods to get my batteries so that my husband could eventually groom himself….
I decided that I needed to put my efforts in removing the scissors from their miracle plastic holder so that perhaps I could use them to open the battery package and I went back to my Psycho impression as I endeavored to get my scissors so that I could open the batters so that I could use the groomer......
This was way more work than I ever anticipated when I went to the store that day simply to provide my husband with a tool he needed.
Sometimes we feel that God is as hard to reach as getting a groomer or batteries or scissors out of miracle plastic. We think that God is far way or busy with something else or is upset with us and thus ignoring us. We think that to reach God is going to take hard work and great effort and it will be as frustrating as trying to get a purchase out of miracle plastic. So we end up thinking that it is either not worth the effort - or we are never going to be able to do enough to get God’s attention.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. As hard as you may work to get something out of miracle plastic, is how easy it is to reach God. It will never be such a daunting task to talk to your creator. It will never take an hour of time just to crack the shell of God listening because God is always there; God is always listening; God is always attuned to us - even when we have not been attuned to him.
So don’t give up on God; never quit talking to him; never quit taking some time to listen to his voice; never think that it will be just ‘too hard’ to get God’s attention… nothing could be easier. Just talk to him and he will listen - yes, it is that easy……..
Amen
My husband needed a new groomer - you know one of those beard trimmers that depending on the size of the blade can make your beard barely visible or fluffy like a neat Grizzly Adams. My husband has had a beard for most of the time I have known him and to keep the facial hair respectable enough to be around other people he has to use this groomer on a regular basis. And since he has had the beard so long he has gone through a good number of these little hand held beard shavers. And once again the current groomer had given its life for the worthy cause of my husband's beard and we needed a new one.....
Off I went to the store to purchase the new groomer and a few other items that I needed and after my successful store visit I returned home.
I unpacked my bags and the next step was to get my husband’s groomer ready for his use.
My task of getting this new groomer set up was a much more daunting amount of work than I had ever imagined. Why? Plastic. The newly purchased groomer was sealed in what I have termed ‘miracle plastic’. I named it ‘miracle plastic’ because it is a miracle that you can ever get something out of it. And this newly bought groomer was no exception. I began the arduous endeavor of releasing the groomer from its package made of "I bet you can't ever get into this package' miracle plastic.
Forget just opening the package. Miracle plastic is sealed all the way around and no amount of tugging or ripping or trying to manipulate the plastic apart will work. I decided that what I needed was a pair of scissors to try and snip open the plastic that was designed to never be broken open. But, alas, I remembered that one of my purchases at the store had been a new pair of scissors because the pair I had mysteriously disappeared…..
Guess what - the scissors I so desperately needed to open the groomer encased with miracle plastic was also encased in miracle plastic.
I then resorted to - the knife. Not probably the smartest route or the safest, but what was one to do if you wanted anything set free from this plastic that was holding your item prisoner! Even with the knife the job seemed impossible. If someone had walked in my house at that moment they would have probably heard the theme music from the shower scene in Psycho as I kept stabbing my miracle plastic wrapped groomer trying to at least punch a hole in it so I could eventually retrieve my purchase!
And so I did. After what seemed like a lengthy period of time I eventually cracked a corner of the welded plastic with my knife and I was able to reach in and pull the plastic apart and “eureka!” I finally had my groomer - Free!! Free at last!
But in order to use the groomer, I needed some AA batteries. I believed I had a pack in a drawer somewhere and the search proved fruitful and I found a pack of the batteries I needed to make the groomer work….. guess what? The batteries were wrapped in miracle plastic.
I signed - knowing that once again I was going to have to use herculean methods to get my batteries so that my husband could eventually groom himself….
I decided that I needed to put my efforts in removing the scissors from their miracle plastic holder so that perhaps I could use them to open the battery package and I went back to my Psycho impression as I endeavored to get my scissors so that I could open the batters so that I could use the groomer......
This was way more work than I ever anticipated when I went to the store that day simply to provide my husband with a tool he needed.
Sometimes we feel that God is as hard to reach as getting a groomer or batteries or scissors out of miracle plastic. We think that God is far way or busy with something else or is upset with us and thus ignoring us. We think that to reach God is going to take hard work and great effort and it will be as frustrating as trying to get a purchase out of miracle plastic. So we end up thinking that it is either not worth the effort - or we are never going to be able to do enough to get God’s attention.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. As hard as you may work to get something out of miracle plastic, is how easy it is to reach God. It will never be such a daunting task to talk to your creator. It will never take an hour of time just to crack the shell of God listening because God is always there; God is always listening; God is always attuned to us - even when we have not been attuned to him.
So don’t give up on God; never quit talking to him; never quit taking some time to listen to his voice; never think that it will be just ‘too hard’ to get God’s attention… nothing could be easier. Just talk to him and he will listen - yes, it is that easy……..
Amen