It is appropriate that today’s reading from Our Daily Bread deals with chaos. Chaos happen. Whether as a direct consequence of our actions, or through no fault of ours. A plane goes missing and is found weeks later far away from its original destination; freaky weather conditions causes mayhem; a child is sent to school in the wrong uniform. While we may not be able to prevent chaos from happening, we can manage how we react to it. We could add to the chaos or we could deal with it and most importantly, take steps to prevent its recurrence. God sent 10 plagues to convince Pharaoh to set the Hebrew people free. When He changed the water in the Nile to blood, the “Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts” (thereby adding to the chaos). Pharaoh’s heart hardened and he refused to release his slaves. Next, came the plague of frogs. “The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.” The magicians did the same things by their secret arts (again adding to the chaos and frog population)! Thankfully, the magicians were unable to duplicate the subsequent plagues. Perhaps their magic did not extend that far, or perhaps their wives threatened to leave them if they continued to be so stupid! I wonder if any of them tried to talk some sense into Pharaoh, which would’ve prevented more of such troubles from happening. Time and again troubles came, all arising from the same cause (Pharaoh being stubborn). Until a Very Bad Thing happened (read the book to find out what it was 😆). Most of the time, VBTs don’t happen out of the blue. There would’ve been little issues along the way, that if dealt properly with at that time, would have prevented the VBT from happening (for want of a nail...a kingdom was lost). Unfortunately, we often learn of this only on hindsight. Meantime, well get the correct timetable up on the fridge. And well learn to get into the habit of seeking confirmation (double confirmation is better) if things seem amiss. As a friend shared, her child bore the brunt of her mistakes previously and emerged the stronger for it. And so would my child.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:43:48 +0000
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