| Sunday, October 31, 2004 |
| The Parable of the Toilet Bowl |
Recently, the toilet bowl in my parents’ bedroom malfunctioned. I don’t exactly know what is wrong with it (I’m not well-versed in these things), but each time I flushed it, soon after, a torrent of water would come spilling out from a leak somewhere in the plumbing. That part of the water pipe is near the floor, at the very least. Ok. Maybe “torrent” is an exaggeration. Just enough to splatter my feet with a few drops from where I would usually be innocently washing my hands at the sink. Ewwww.
A few days (actually, come to think of it – weeks!) later my dad turned off the water supply to that pipe by means of some kind of tap. He wrote a note and stuck it near the light switch, and I saw it. Didn’t really understand. Something about turning on some tap somewhere…I tried to turn this tap I saw, but it was really stiff. After that first time, I gave up.
I’ve been avoiding it by going to the kitchen toilet and reminding myself not to use toilet paper when I use the bedroom toilet – but only if I’m going to bathe right after using the toilet, mind you. I keep myself clean. :P It’s easier to flush down the icky stuff manually if there’s no toilet paper involved. Anyhow, whenever I have to flush that toilet now, it’s a big operation; I have to remove the rolls of toilet paper (Heavy users are we!) from the cover of the toilet bowl, then remove the cover itself and place it gently somewhere, then stand around while I fill up the tank with water using the showerhead. With the other hand, I’d fill a cup with water from the sink and add to the water at the same tank. (Women are great at multi-tasking! ;) )
I have been stubborn about asking Dad what his note meant, whether I was pulling away at the right tap. When it would probably save me a lot of trouble and time to just ask. But no, I have to be stubborn and perform my elaborate procedure every time I use that toilet. I figure I won’t have the strength to turn on the tap anyway, so why ask?
I was doing just that again, when it struck me that this is what a lot of people do in their relationships with God. The note (ie. the Bible) is there but we don’t want to read it properly and scrutinise it. We don’t want to do what the note says because we think it’s too much trouble, and we don’t have enough strength for it. The man (ie. God) is there for us to ask for help but no, we want to be stubborn and do it our own way, even if we vaguely realise that it would be a lot easier and simpler to just ask. And we get vaguely miffed that we have to do so much, when there’s the shorter but harder way, sometimes in plain view, and we don’t even want try, or give up too soon to see any results. |
posted by esther @ 1:02 AM  |
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