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BAND-AIDS
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There are a couple of things that have triggered this thought process in me— A/C and shaving…
I remember reading a letter to “The Straight Dope” (don’t ask; far too long an explanation—suffice it to say, from Chicago) from a fellow whose girlfriend used his razor to shave; he thought he had a brand-new blade, and as he put it, “Now I’m trying to figure out how to put a tourniquet on my upper lip…”
And then there’s what has been an on-going issue with the A/C unit in the rectory Florida room.
What in the world am I raving about??
This morning (FYI, this is being written the Tuesday prior) I nicked my upper lip while shaving. It’s currently almost 2:00 pm, and I’m still fighting trying to stop the bleeding. So what did I try?
Styptic pencil; Kleenex; pressure; liquid bandage…. The point is that these things were ineffective—they didn’t work. How often have we wasted time, spiritually speaking, on things (techniques, methods…) that didn’t work? Again, in the name of full disclosure, I’m not sure in this case what will work…
As for the Florida room, I’m on more solid ground. The humidity was building up in here terribly, and I went to get a de-humidifier. I was sucking out easily 3 gallons of moisture a day—all of which went to plants and the fountain, but still! My question: where was it all coming from? At the same time, the A/C unit was backing up, mildewing up, and on Sunday morning overflowed all over the wall, floor…. So Kim hosed out the system Monday and came up with a theory. What if the “back up” of moisture that should have been draining wasn’t happening, but my de-humidifier was, as it were, “taking up the slack”? The fact that I’d stopped using the de-humidifier, then the flood occurred, confirmed this idea. So I was using the wrong solution to the problem.
In both cases, I had a good solution but one that was wrong for the issue. Again—how often have we been in spiritual circumstances when what we thought was the right approach simply wasn’t. Perhaps we might do well to hear again the words of St Paul (Romans 8) that we don’t know how to pray as we ought. Perhaps the best prayer, after all, is the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done; Give us this day; deliver us from evil.”
When I think I know best, when I think I have the answer—it’s then that I’m in serious trouble.
