Following Directions

We used to live in a house with the bathroom right off the bedroom.  Every morning when I would get out of bed the first thing I did was reach for is the bathroom light switch.  I could usually find it without too much stumbling around.  Once I flipped it, the four extra bright LED bulbs would flash on with enough lumens to signal a plane to land.  For me, it was nice to have a brightly lit bathroom, but to my sleeping wife, the bathroom equated to a flash bulb going off.  As much as I tried to navigate shutting the bathroom door before the light went on, I was not been able to pull it off.  Each of those mornings, from under the covers came a sleepy voice, “It’s too bright!”

There are enough challenges each day and without making my better half somewhat irritated with me before she even wakes.  It was not a good way to start the day.  I decided it was time for a change and had an epiphany on how to solve the problem.  I would purchase and install a dimmer switch so each morning when I flipped the switch the light would not be so bright.  It would be easy, right?  I mean after all, I am a man and we have been foraging and providing for those we love all throughout time.  Fire was probably one of the first things we mastered and if you think about it, my bathroom light was just a modern rendition of fire.  It just needed to be at the correct level.

Being a man also means there isn’t a need to read directions, even when it comes to those things electrical.  After coming home with my new dimmer switch, I ripped it out of the box and grabbed some tools.  I turned off the power ahead of time and I connected the wires to my new switch and turned the power back on.  I flipped the switch as my wife watched my handiwork.  It was at this moment I created a new kind of flame in our home.  It was blue, very angry and made a loud popping sound before all the power in the bathroom went off.  Fortunately my new friend, the blue flame, disappeared.  Whatever heat he was carrying transferred over to my lovely wife who gave me the look husbands don’t want to see from their wives.

It was at this time I decided to look at those directions.  It wasn’t a surprise I hadn’t connected the wires correctly.  The wires weren’t connected to the correct terminals (or whatever they are called) so the power would never reach my bathroom lights.  The power was still flowing but because of my mistake, the switch shorted out and I didn’t get the result I was hoping.  I needed to follow the directions and use the switch as it had been intended.

It made me think of my faith journey.  The Bible is our instruction manual that tells us how we can connect to our power source so we can shine just like the LED bulbs in my bathroom.  When we aren’t following the directions, we short out.  The power is still there, the switch looks just like any other switch and seems like it should work, but the power can’t get through the inner workings of the switch when the connection is wrong.  It’s the same with faith.  I can look like I have it altogether and have my own idea of how my faith should work, but if I don’t check the directions from time to time, things aren’t going to work as they ought.

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  John 15:5