life reminders

There’s a joke that goes something like this:

   A female of a certain hair color walks into a beauty shop with headphones planted firmly over her ears. The beautician begins pulling out her instruments as she asks the young woman to please remove her headphones. The customer gasps, clenches the sides of her head, and says, “No! If I take these off, I’ll die!”

   The stylist is confused, but decides to attempt working around the head gear. Soon, the hard plastic gets in the way and the beautician asks again, “Ma’am, do you think you could take off your head phones for just a moment?”

   “No,” Replies the woman of a particular hair color, “if I take these off, I’ll die!”

   The stylist is confused and considerably frustrated now, but she continues cutting and trimming around the apparatus. Finally, it all becomes too much and she rips the headphones off the girl’s head and tosses them to the ground.

   The young woman sits completely still and then falls to the floor dead.

   The beautician is shocked! What could have been so important that this girl would die if she couldn’t hear it? Slowly, she reaches down to the floor, picks up the headphones, and listens. She heard a voice repeat over and over, “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out…”

 

Pretty funny, huh? A little, but my point wasn’t to be humorous.

   I wish I was like that girl with the headphones. I am like her in many ways. I’m not nearly smart enough to live rightly. Even the simplest spiritual truths continually slip my mind. I need to be constantly reminded who my God is, who I am, and what I’m supposed to be doing.

   I wish I was like that girl because she knew she couldn’t make it on her own. She knew she needed the voice and she wouldn’t willingly let anyone take it away from her. I need the steady flow of spiritual refreshment. Without it, my life falls apart and I forget the most basic principles. I even forget that I need that refreshment at all. I become dry and useless. It happens so quickly.

   All Christians need that voice telling them how to live, who to worship, who to love. Where do we find that voice? Scripture and Prayer. So simple. So vital.

   Always keep the voice in your head: “Put off. Put on. Put off. Put on. Put off…”

-->