Life in a nutty shell

Ecclesiastes 7: 6, "When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing."

Pondering this might take me the rest of my life, me being a fool and all, but on a cool November morning while I sat in front of a computer attempting to do what comes easy most days but was more like a challenge this morning, I attempted to get deep, to ponder the laughter of fools. 

I read this story on the esteemed Internet in answer to the search, "When a fool laughs." An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, “Pull, Nellie, pull!” Buddy didn’t move. Then the farmer hollered, “Pull, Buster, pull!” Buddy didn’t respond. Once more the farmer commanded, “Pull, Coco, pull!” Nothing. Then the farmer nonchalantly said, “Pull, Buddy, pull!” And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch. The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times. “Well… Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try!”

Sometimes even the deepest of thinkers need a moment of laughter. Sometimes even those who have become the designated writer for the party, still need to be able to smile at the most unfunny of things.

Maybe we're blinded by life in the ditch in general, and we refuse to be the only one who continues to pull. Sometimes we need something more, something new, something different to get us out of the ditch.

Have you ever noticed that every life needs a little umph, a little goosey, a little something we didn't even know we needed, wanted or even that it existed. Sometimes even a fool needs to laugh.

Really. It'a like...

2) thorns crackling in a fire.

But even those foolish laughs are pretty meaningless. Really. The more fooish the laugh, the less sustaining, I muse. Maybe, however, that's the point.

They don't stay with us. Somehow pondering all of this has taken me to 11:20 in the morning. Trimming and editing and throwing away bad stuff in order to get a nutshell of relatively good stuff has taken all morning. It takes the same amount of time to write the meaningless as it does the meaningful, the same time to attempt the funny as it does to attempt to explain grief.
Ever thrown a pine cone into a camp fire? I have. the point is that it makes a quick fire, a little spotlight fire, a moment of fresh fire but ultimately it doesn't give you much fire, much heat, much of anything really. It's a moment of freshness, but then it's gone and you won't remember the moment much past its going. Sure, we all need those moments, those lifting, useless, funny moments. But sometimes we need a little more. We need extra cream in our coffee, extra cheese on our pizza, extra sugar in our sugarless drink. Sometimes we need to extend our hand in order to get extra, though it doesn't ....

3) mean a thing.

I'm write about things that matter a great, great deal most of the time. Salvation and grace and the mercy of a God who loves us enough to send His Son dominates my time.  I'm just saying....

Red Smith, a noted sports writer from a previous century, once wrote in answer to a question about writing..."You don't want to be lousy during the World Series. If you've got to be lousy, let it be June. And believe me, I was very lousy yesterday. I had nothing to say, and, by God, I said it."

But today, today this is what this blog has been about. I have nothing to say, and by God's help, I'm saying it.

Ultimately none of this matters a whole lot. Solomon asks the question. "Think about what what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked?"

The answer, of course, is no one. But Solomon goes on to write, "My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they re evil. so don't be too good or too wise -- why kill yourself? Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be a successful person anyway....

Solomon builds to a magnificent close: "I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me. How can anyone discover what life means. ... This is I have learned (he states after much thought and living through those thoughts): God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated."

Someone once wrote, Proofread carefully to see if you any words out."

Life is about looking back, looking less than deeply, about making wise choices with less than wise capability, making sure you don't any of the words out.

That's life, in a nutty shell.