Dear Readers,
We’ve all been there, right? Christmas Eve, 11:37 p.m. The wrapped gifts have been under the tree for several days, but tonight, now that the kids are finally asleep, it’s time to set out the unwrapped presents, the ones from Santa.
It’s quick and easy to put Patrick’s Game Boy next to Heather’s Pocket Rocker, but as you pull out the last item, Bridget’s giant box of building blocks, you notice, to your horror, the fine print at the bottom of the carton, “Some assembly is required.”
Turns out, the blocks, which on the box cover looked exactly like real red bricks, were not yet “assembled.”
Instead, they came as large flat pieces of corrugated cardboard printed with dotted lines (representing the fold lines) — lines that looked a lot like helter-skelter railroad tracks foretelling the wreck about to happen!
It took my husband Dave and I until 2 a.m. to assemble those blocks, aided by the energy from consuming all of Santa’s cookies and cocoa along with an entire box of Fannie Mae chocolates intended for Aunt Irene.
I should have paid attention to what was printed on the box when I bought it.
What, dear Readers, have been some of your attempts at “some assembly is required” projects? Did you successfully complete the projects with both your sanity and your self-esteem intact?
Ignoring directions
About five years ago, I asked my now-adult, brilliant engineer-of-a-son to put together a small chest of drawers for my dining room.
He was happy to oblige.
Before he arrived, I opened the large carton, laid out all the assorted wooden boards and hardware pieces, but carelessly threw out the directions along with the box.
Patrick did the best he could without any instructions and after several frustrating hours, the chest was finished.
Only problem was, the pull knobs on the drawers were on the inside instead of the outside.
I was at fault for ignoring (and disposing of) the essential information which came with the product.
Perhaps the best example of my tendency to ignore directions was when I was competing in the Miss Teen Fort Wayne pageant a hundred years ago.
My talent portion of the competition was a jazz dance (which I had choreographed) wearing a costume (which I had sewn).
The directions with the Simplicity pattern were detailed and easy to follow, but based on the vast expertise I had gained from one semester of junior high home economics, I thought I would take a few short cuts.
What was supposed to be a cute mini dress turned out to look like a strange version of a Flash Gordon spaceship.
With no time to sew a new costume, I added a few stars and glittering gold stripes to the ship, changed my music from James Taylor’s “I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet” to Billy Preston’s “Outta Space,” and ran with it.
I ended up winning fourth place, but my brothers still tease me about that hollow victory, a sympathy vote from the judges because of how pathetic I looked in that getup.
A work in progress
We are all born with “some assembly required.”
Hebrews 10:16 tells us, “I will put my laws in their hearts.”
Also imprinted there are important instructions meant to guide us in this life-long process of becoming “perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).
It can be done, but not unless we pay attention to God’s directions.
God delights in making us part of His creation process.
In Genesis, God does not send all the animals to Earth already named; instead, He invites Adam to name them.
Playing a major role in the creation process has continued ever since.
Instead of delivering new babies to earth via a stork, He allows us to play a key role in the project of creating new life.
And of course, think of the hundreds of other ways we as humans participate in the creative process through the sciences, the arts, technology, etc.
Perhaps the most critical of the creative projects we’re tasked with is that ongoing process of self-assembly; we’ve been given a part in the process but a successful outcome depends on us following His directions, His instructions written on our hearts.
We must pay attention to the “essential information which came with the product.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I ponder the possibilities of why I’m still here more than eight years after oncologists told me I only had months to live.
I’ve decided God is keeping me here on Earth until I finally read and take heed of all the instructions He’s written on my heart.
Apparently, I still have some assembling to do; I’m a work in progress.
And so now, on a daily basis, when I pray, I remind myself to read the fine print, to think twice before discarding what might be important, and to refrain from taking short cuts!
Linda E. Kelly is a member of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison.