If God’s interest is primarily with our souls, our bodies may be His answer to a container. Sort of like a box for a Christmas present. Our bodies are the packaging while our souls are the important stuff inside.
If this is the case, do you suppose God ever gets a kick out of how we decorate our containers?
Using the Christmas gift analogy again, there is the gift, then usually the box, then the wrapping paper, then ribbons, bows, ornaments, tags, etc. Maybe God sees us sometimes as the soul (the gift), the body (the container), our clothes (the wrapping), our ties, belts, jewelry, hair clasps, etc. (ribbon, bows, etc.).
But since clothes and all of the accessories are mostly human inventions, I wonder if God ever thinks it’s funny that we decorate our containers with so much stuff? He may think that we seem awfully entertained and obsessed with our containers. Sort of like a kid at Christmas who gets a bunch of great gifts in the morning but is playing with the boxes by afternoon.
He may have even thought it was cute at one time: Oh, look, they’re decorating their containers with animal skins. Who would have ever thought of wrapping one container with part of the container of one of the other creations? Very darling, ho, ho.
Through the centuries, He possibly found several aspects of our clothing intriguing and, though He is omniscient, possibly confusing. Sure, basic clothing makes sense. It protects the container same as wrapping paper protects the Christmas-gift box. But what about some of the other things we wear?
The tie, for instance: Why do men persist on wearing a string around their necks?
Earrings and piercings: Why have they poked holes in their containers?
Hairstyles: Humans seem terribly preoccupied with that fuzz atop their heads?
Tattoos & makeup: Awww, look, they’ve drawn on their containers.
Sometimes, God may look at some of our accessories in a way similar to an adult looking at a Christmas gift wrapped by a child. Ever looked at the way many children decorate gift boxes?
Through the centuries, though, God may have tired of our preoccupation with our containers. Again, like the parents of a child who is still playing with the boxes come the day after Christmas but the bazillion dollars of toys they purchased are already gathering dust in a heap on the floor, God may wonder why we don’t spend a little more time on His gift to us rather than the container He placed it in?
Dean Poling is The Valdosta Daily Times assistant managing editor.
Dean Poling
Poking holes in the gift box
- Dean Poling
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Roosevelt Marshall
Roosevelt Marshall of Valdosta passed this life Dec. 14, 2010. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. at Union Cathedral with Bishop Wade S. McCrae, Pastor officiating. Burial will follow in Sunset Hill Cemetery. Final rites are entrusted to Harrington Funeral Home.
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Alice W. Johnson
Alice W. Johnson, 55, of Valdosta died on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 at the Langdale Hospice House following a lengthy illness. Services for Alice W. Johnson will be held at 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home with the Rev. Jay Watkins officiating. The burial will follow in the Riverview Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Langdale Hospice 2263 Pineview Drive, Valdosta Ga. 31602 or to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, 2121 SW 16th Street Gainesville, Florida 32608. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanefuneralservices.com. — Carson McLane Funeral Home
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Not under his breath either. He talked like nobody’s business. -
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Sign of the voting times
Maybe we need a new way to elect our leaders.
Less than 18 percent of Lowndes County’s registered voters participated in Tuesday’s primary election. That sounds like a mandate of an apathetic populace that wants to do things differently. -
Wiregrass, um, Technical something or other
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Roosevelt Marshall
