The other day I was deeply engrossed in one of my favorite books. Actually it's the 19th installment of a very intellectually challenging series, and the title of this particular book I'm reading is; "Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader".
And within it's pages, are stories ranging from slightly amusing to absolutely hilarious... from mildly odd to down right weird. Within the pages, one can find a virtual treasure of what some might call useless information... but information nonetheless. For example; did you know that salt is mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible, but there's no mention of pepper. I wonder why that is.
Another thing about these Bathroom Readers, is that they are inspiring. They have inspired me to try and figure out how to install some arm rests on the toilet for a tad more comfort while I'm reading.
Anyhow, while reading, I came across a story that caught my attention. At first I thought it was funny... then I wasn't sure if it was funny or not. Let me know what you think.
It is the story about an incident that occurred at the most prestigious art gallery in Britain. Not meaning to poke any fun at the Brits, but they're known to be just a bit stodgy anyhow, and this really brought that fact to life.
They prominently displayed a block of slate, topped with a small piece of wood. The gallery's owners raved about the "work" and the word rapidly spread. In fact the Royal Academy included the chunk of stone with the small bone shaped wooden stick in it's most prestigious summer exhibition in London. It created quite the stir.
But the block of slate was later found to be what's called a "plinth"... the stone slab upon which a pedestal is placed. The stick was designed to prop up and support a sculpture. The sculpture was a head, which was to sit upon the pedestal, supported by the stick. BUT... the sculpture itself was nowhere to be found... at least until after the art show.
The Royal Academy explained it this way; saying that the parts were all sent to the gallery separately and The Academy, having received the pieces separately thought them to be two different submissions. They said the two parts were judged independently. The head was rejected, but the block of slate... the square piece of stone... that was later discovered to be the base, was thought to exhibit merit, and was accepted.
And this story got me to thinking. We all rock along in our own little world, thinking we're pretty cool because we seem to "have it going on"... and then along comes someone who turns the light on and suddenly we realize we might not be as cool as we thought. But what do we do when THAT happens? Well at that point, we're forced to make a choice.
We either say, oops... my bad... sorry about that... or we try to pretend that's what we intended all along... every thing's working out just like I planned.
Which got me to thinking about something else that suddenly appears entirely relevant. That's pretty much how we act regarding sin in our lives. When confronted with our mistakes ( our sin ), we're forced to make some choices. We either say, Oops... my bad... sorry, God... please forgive me. (That's called confession and repentance). Or we just keep right on going, ignoring the sin, pretending every thing's under control and we're just fine. (That's called stupidity)
Stupidity a little harsh, you think? OK... Oops, my bad, sorry about that. Oh well... It's Just A Thought.
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