From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
By now most of us have heard the time-worn definition of absurdity: “Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.”
I went through a one week stretch a short while ago where I became our family’s poster child for absurdity.
I had come home from a run one morning and noticed that the bar of soap in the shower needed to be replaced.
I rummaged through a few drawers underneath the bathroom sink and finally found a used bar, discarded and lost and tucked away amidst an assortment of other ignored hygiene items.
To my frustration the darn soap just wouldn’t lather up, despite repeated rubbing.
The best result I could get was a slight greasy feeling that I was glad to get off of me.
I persevered with this hopeless situation for a number of days until one day my wife shouted, “Who’s been using my scented conditioner bar?”
Gulp!
Conditioner bar?
Doesn’t that stuff come in bottles?
My daughters really gave me the gears when they found out I had been using it day after day trying to get some lather from it.
“Why didn’t you quit using it after you realized it wasn’t working?” my wife asked simply.
Hmmm, good question.
Lesson learned.
Somehow I figured the lather would magically appear eventually.
I have observed that some people practice absurdity with life.
I visited a man in the hospital once who had a myriad of health issues stemming from his excessive smoking and severe obesity.
He wanted to know why God had done this to him.
I gently informed him that God hadn’t done it and actually wanted to help him but he had to make some decisions to change his lifestyle and not expect health to brim over automatically.
Why not pray and ask for God’s wisdom to make right decisions instead of winging it with the same thing over and over?
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
Oh, and that new soap my wife put in the shower is working just fine, by the way!
