Christian Living

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There are lots of things that annoy me, particularly when they are a surprise. I might feel good about something but then an unexpected incident spoils it all. For instance, getting ripped off at the shop.

I went into a discount shop to buy some things. Amongst these were Christmas cards and gift tags, 50% off, due to the post-Christmas period. I felt good that I was able to spend wisely to offset the expenses next Christmas season. Then as I got to the check-out and paid, I thought something didn’t quite add up when I received my change. I walked out of the door and double-checked my purse. I was short $10, and I knew I should have received a 10-dollar note along with the 20 and change I had been given.

I was ripped off! I was sure the check-out chick didn’t give me the correct change, but how was I to prove it? So I grumbled to myself and had to put up with it. With my spending of a little over $10, I ended up paying over $20 and my half-price items worked out more expensive anyway. Don’t you hate that?

Just last week, we went out for our anniversary and got my mother-in-law to mind the girls. We watched a movie (our annual treat) and had dinner at a restaurant. It was good to do something special. While we were out, the rain had been constant, and on our hour-long trip home we went through a lot of streams flowing over causeways. The crossings all along our road were high and we knew it would only get higher. Bruce and I realised that his mum would have to stay the night for safety’s sake. When we got home and discussed this with her, she already had come to the same conclusion. It was nice to have her over, but during the night, the exhaust fan on our composting toilet died.

The stench of a year or more of decomposing human waste and food scraps wafted up from the toilet chamber and filled the end of the house.* By the morning, the smell was drifting down the hall to the lounge and kitchen. I thought maybe someone had a bad case of stomach upset and I didn’t want to ask any embarrassing questions! Bruce solved the problem when he pronounced the exhaust fan was not working. Oooh! Bad enough for your own olfactory comfort, but when you have a visitor, it’s even more disconcerting.

And to top things off, it was now the weekend, and our only local composting toilet representative was unable to be reached, possibly in their own flooded isolation. Don’t you hate that?

Well, for your interest, Bruce did manage to rig up a temporary fan from another source that helped fix the problem. Then our hot water system went on the blink, and another temporary job was made to bypass the problem. Only thing, it became a two-person job to have a shower. The shower-er turns on the tap in the bathroom while someone downstairs under the house (in the rain) flicks the switch to ignite the gas… and then turns it off again when the shower is finished. (By this stage I had ceased to ‘hate’ these inconveniences, but just accepted it as a bad case of Murphy’s Law in action.)

But then I looked in the Bible and saw the things that God hates: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

Hmmm, perhaps I should not worry myself so much about what upsets my plans and annoys me, but I should be trying to grasp how God views the world. With my mind in tune with His, I will be more inclined to hate the injustices in the world, not the petty inconveniences.






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* for those interested in composting toilets – they aren’t meant to stink at all, but are supposed to break down matter aerobically and thus without decay. However, we’ve had a drainage problem in the chamber, but that's another story…

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