Posts Tagged ‘Toilet’

I wrote this a few nights ago:

So I’m sitting at home on my deck, enjoying a cigar and a the calm of night. As I look across my plastic deck table to an area normally unoccupied I see a toilet. Odd, right? Normally the only thing on this wall is a window and maybe a spider-web.

I mean not having any sort of background as to how it got there one might wonder, “Why do they have a toilet on their deck? Is it functional?” Both of these are entirely legitimate as this is not a standard scenario.

Now, I’m under the impression that generally, in a newer neighborhood, there would exist rules and regulations against this sort of thing. However, these sorts of rules do not exist in my neighborhood.

Anyway, this toilet on my deck got me thinking (don’t they always?)

How similar is a toilet on our deck to something else in our lives? It’s out of place, it should be taken care of, if I were to have a BBQ people would certainly ask questions. What if I moved the toilet to the front porch instead?

Anyone who walked or drove by could see it. People would more than likely talk about it, maybe not to us, but rest assured, there would be some sort of talking. Sure, some neighbors will ask about it, those that know us and are comfortable enough would even offer to help get rid of it. Though, to offer to help get rid of first involves some sort of background. Why it’s there, if we do in fact intend to move it and so on.

So, what if the toilet were actually some sort of deep spiritual issue? Some may hide it deep in their soul (the deck) so only those closest to us might see or know about it. Then there are those issues we wear on our sleeves (the porch), those that everyone knows about and we choose to not try and hide them.

Either way, no one is helping you with that toilet without first seeing it, then asking about it, right?

I know this is a ridiculous comparison but think about it. How often do we expect to help someone with some deep spiritual hurt without first finding out why they’re hurt or attempt to help someone out of a rut without finding how they fell into the rut to begin with? This is an important step to actually helping someone.

I’ll refer back to a post I made a while back about shutting up and listening. There are plenty of scriptures to point to the idea that we should listen and assess, ask questions and actually pay attention to the answers before we try and even speak.

In a nutshell: you cannot begin to help someone or be helped yourself until there is some amount of background. To help without any background is like throwing a dollar of gas in an empty tank. It may get you a little further but, certainly not to your desitnation.

You cannot claim to truly love others without listening, and helping.

Goodnight.