March 9 – “Rotate glass to relamp”

 

 

Rotate glass to relamp.  Just thought I'd lead off today with that bit of profound philosophy I was confronted with last night.  Rotate glass to relamp.  What glass?  Rotate to where?  Which direction?  If you're relamping, how did you lamp in the first place?  And what, or who, was the recipient of said lamping?  Is there another way to relamp than rotation?  Why should I relamp?  What's in it for me?  What is relamping, anyway?  Questions, questions, questions.  The sad commentary on life as we know it today. 

 

The instructions seem simple enough.  Just four words. Yet I come up with nine questions without even trying.  And what about the questions that arise from the answers to those questions?  Which is in itself yet another question.  And if philosophy indeed mirrors life, then I will not even begin making an effort to act on the command until I have satisfactorily answered all of the questions.  Thus I have effectively become paralyzed, afraid to act, or determined not to. 

 

And so I remain in the dark, fumbling about, trying to carry out my life tasks under less than ideal conditions, which in turn creates more questions.  Why is it always so dark?  Why doesn't someone make it brighter?  Whose fault is this darkness, anyway?  Frustrations rise, giving way to anger.  And when no outlet for anger is in sight, it bubbles over into lashing out at ones I love, or becoming inordinately engrossed in my job or a hobby or politics or a relationship or … depression.  In desperation I look for escape from the darkness through professionals or drugs.  Or perhaps I turn to voices that promise light without rotation.  Send money here.  Breathe this way.  Look for light within.  Turn this way.  Angle that way.  Yet in the end they all say the same thing: Embrace the darkness. 

 

Why do I lose myself in questions and alternatives and reactions?  Why do I make this so hard, when the answer is so easy?  Therein lies the rub.  The alternative to anxiety, to stress, to defeat?  Simple.  Rotate glass to relamp. 

 

OK.  That was an exercise in weirdness.  I'll just go change the light bulb in the bathroom now.  Someone stamped the directions on the fixture cover.  Doesn't sound too hard.  Rotate glass to relamp. 

 

Hebrews 4:1-2 says, "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.  For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith."

 

Father, you have given us the simple words that lead to life and peace: "Commit to Christ."  Forgive us when we try to make it so hard that we paralyze ourselves.  Amen.