Humor

---

If your desk is like mine then you're in serious trouble. Recently I walked into my office and for the first time noticed just how cluttered my desk really is. In fact, I had a hard time even finding my desk. If a hurricane ever went through my office nobody would notice, in fact, it might straighten up in three seconds what has taken me 30 years to mess up.

I was looking for an important paper I desperately needed. Why is it whenever I need something it is the only thing I cannot find? While looking for this paper, I found everything else, including several bills I was sure I never received and two letters I wrote and obviously never sent.

I also found 10 Christmas cards — from 1995, addressed and stamped. This presented me with a dilemma; should I still send them or keep them for this Christmas? After three seconds of serious pondering I decided to keep them for this coming Christmas, which means I am a tad ahead of this year's Christmas card marathon.

Having made this decision, I was left to decide where to store the cards until December for the time being, I decided to leave them on my desk just until I find a proper place to store them.

Time was passing and I still did not find the document I needed to mail immediately.

Wait a minute! There, among a myriad of papers, was the library book I had been looking for. Quickly checking the due data I wondered, if I keep a library book long enough, say seven years, does it become my property? Isn't possession 99 percent of ownership?

I think the overdue penalties are more than what the book cost in the first place.

For the time being, I decided to leave the library book on my desk, next to the Christmas cards. I promised myself I would return it after I found the missing, all-important paper.

Some people say a cluttered desk is a sign of a creative mind. If that is true, I must have the most creative mind in the country. With all the accumulated clutter, one would think I could come up with the cure for some dreaded disease or some thing. Perhaps I did and lost it in the confusion on my desk.

After several hours of unproductive searching, I stopped for a short break. Drinking my coffee, I wondered just how many trees it took to make all the paper piled on my desk.

Somewhere in the world, there is an area missing a forest — and it can be found on my desk.

While on vacation this summer I realized just how much paper accumulates from the daily mail. There should be a law allowing only important mail through the U. S. Postal Service.

Only mail I am personally interested in should be put into my mailbox.

Nothing is more frustrating than looking for important papers needing immediate attention and coming up empty. In the midst of my frantic search, I ran across an interesting magazine article I previously clipped. I needed it three weeks ago to illustrate my sermon. I read it over and then placed it back on my desk once again resuming my hunting expedition.

All along, I knew the object of my quest was right before me. It had to be. Where else could it have been?

Where do papers go when they are lost? Is there some place they congregate until they are found? What do they do while waiting? Do they play Paper, Scissors, Rock?

A thought occurred to me, many people search for things and never find them. In fact, that is what religion is all about — searching for God. Some people spend their entire lives trying to find God and never really find Him.

Seeing lives so cluttered with everything seems so sad, especially when God always is right before us. Unfortunately, the chaos in many lives prevents people from really finding Him.

The strenuous effort of going through so much disorder discourages many people after a while and they ultimately give up the search. For the most part, religion plays a role in this frustration by adding to the clutter in some lives.

Sometimes finding what we are looking for is hard because of all the stuff offered by religion.

If we could get rid of every thing but the Bible, we could find God a lot quicker. Through an Old Testament prophet, God said to His people, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for rite with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13 KJV.)

Getting rid of the clutter in our lives is just one step toward finding God. Another step is to develop a passion to know God.

The Apostle Paul had such a passion when he wrote, "That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." (Philippians 3:10 KJV.)

The only way to understand and know God is through Jesus. "Christ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6 KJV.)

I sat back, relaxed and looked at the papers on my desk. "Aha!" I yelled as I finally found the paper. Have you ever noticed the thing you are looking for is always in the last place you look?

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE