Mama, Honey, and Our Overstayed Welcome

(This reading is based on Proverbs 25 and is read in accordance with the Revived by His Word initiative of the General Conference of SDAs.)

"Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit./ It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory./ Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house, lest he become weary of you and hate you." Verses 16, 27, 17

A common thread in these passages is that they offer lessons in temperance/moderation; being moderate in what you do and in how you perceive yourself. My recollection of those early days of Bible Class when I joined the Church as a teenager is that temperance was defined as, "The abstinence from that which is harmful/bad and the moderate consumption of that which is good."

Hmm Honey!
My mother recalls a childhood experience she had when unexpectedly she came into possession of some honey. In her glee of landing such a rare acquisition she thought she'd enjoy it fully - before she got home. She drank it fast; she drank it all. Of course, it didn't take too long before she began to feel the effects of too "much honey." Its effect lasted for days. And to this day, Mama doesn't use honey, as its very odor takes her back to that horrific moment when in her childish innocence she drank too "much honey." We have a saying in Jamaica that in essence states, "Too much of one thing (even a good thing), becomes good for nothing." The secret to a really good life is found in achieving balance, which forms the foundation of Adventist education: "True education... is the harmonious (balanced) development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers."-- Education, p. 13.

                

Overstayed Welcome
It's Saturday night, and "Six Million Dollar Man" will be on TV. The only problem is that we don't have a television home - but our neighbours do. So we gather in the neighbours' living room and the show is on in earnest. There is the roar of a pickup truck as it drives into the yard. The patriarch of the family, a building contractor, had come home. Suddenly the door opens from outside and he enters. He says nothing, but walks to the television and slams it off and went straight to his bedroom. We stood in deafening silence for a brief moment, stunned by what just happened. At first it was disappointment... then embarrassment. Dejected, we foraged our way in the dark to our home. Today, I don't much go to people's homes. But when I do, I'm always keen to leave even before I get a hint that it is time.

I'm glad that with our Heavenly Father, we can never catch Him a bad time; He never gets tired of us, but is always available. We can never have too much of Him; we can never praise Him too much - only that we do these in different ways that allow us to achieve balance in our lives. So we abide in His presence and praise Him in the sanctuary, in our homes, at work/school, on the play field, etc. Thank You Father for being accessible to us.

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