I hit the breaks hard on my Schwinn Stingray bike as I came into my buddy’s grandmother’s driveway. Looking back I was impressed with myself and the great skid mark I had left. I jumped off my bike, set it down on the grass and walked over and knocked on the front door.
A moment later an elderly woman opened the door with a smile on her face…until she saw my bike, “Why did you put your bike on my lawn young man?!” Completely startled by as much her tone as the question I looked back and weakly responded, “Ahh, sorry.” And without missing a beat she said, “My yard is not a playground! Move your bike and come in. And take your shoes off.”
Timidly I walked through the door and I was immediately struck by how clean and perfect everything was. But what really shocked me was the thick plastic on top of her rugs and that every piece of furniture had a plastic covering over it. My instincts were to not take another step but to wait right there for my friend. And the first thing he said when we got to the driveway, “Oh no! You left a skid mark on my grandmother’s driveway! Quick, let’s get the hose and see if we can wash it off.”
Folks who know me well know that I am a neat, tidy and organized guy. Nothing new, I have been so ever since I was a little kid. Yet, I still want to sit on the couch, walk on my lawn, drive my clean car. Because there is always the potential that the things we own will end up owning us. As the phrase goes that I once heard, “Life is meant to be lived not laminated.”
One of my favorite take-away lines from when I took a course in college on the Enlightenment comes from the French philosopher Voltaire, “God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
In the end, the futile urge to over-preserve life —like sealing everything in plastic—risks robbing us of its full joy.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” MT 6:19-21
BP