The Salad Bowl

I have laughed so hard tonight at a comedy of errors. This story may lose something in the translation, but I have to tell it! I had finished cleaning the kitchen, for the third time today and went over to a comfy recliner to sit for a minute. Mother came into the kitchen so I got up to see what she needed and I noticed that she walked by my big aluminum salad bowl, which was sitting on the floor! I went into the kitchen, walked around the salad bowl and finally my curiosity got the better of me. I said “Mother, why did you put the salad bowl on the floor?” She turned and looked at it, as if she had never seen it, and said “I didn’t put it there, I thought you did!” The shiny bowl reflecting the high kitchen lights sitting on the floor between the cabinet and the ‘fridge as if it belonged there, I turned and asked my daughter if she had put the salad bowl on the floor. She answered “No, I saw it there and thought you had put it there.” My grandson, whom no one had asked about the salad bowl, answered from the other room (that kid has super hearing unless you are calling him), “I opened the cabinet and it fell out by itself!” I started laughing at how we had all walked around that big bowl sitting in the middle of the floor without moving it, thinking the other had put it there for some un-known reason. It may not sound funny to you now, but the more I thought of us all tripping around that bowl, the funnier it got and the harder I laughed! It reminded me of all the times I have judged a situation to be one thing and found out it was something else entirely! Matthew 7:1-5″Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, and criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. We all, at some point during every day wonder “who put the bowl in the middle of the floor” which is just another way of saying we judge each other by expression, body language, a misspoken word, and generally think the worst! 1Timothy 6:4 If you have leaders who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. What is the conclusion of the matter? Luke 6:37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, and criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Don’t let your attitudes cause you to be a dead fly! Ecclesiastes 10:1 Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” Be wise and pick up the salad bowl before you trip over it and fall!