Shower Scrunchy: An Analogy of Life

I used to be an old fashioned wash cloth only type person when taking a shower, but a couple of years ago, took the plunge and began adding those scrunchy shower ball things to the morning routine (do they even sell bar soap any more? I haven't looked in so long!).

When you first start using them, they are wound up too tight, and sometimes you can barely fit the rope over the shower head so that you can easily access it for use the next time.  Then it loosens up a little and life is good.  Then next thing you know, the scrunchy has loosened up too much and flops all over the place when you use it and you become dissatisfied again.  Then off you go heading down the personal products aisle at Walmart hunting for a new one and start the cycle all over again.

I find that's a great analogy of my life.  I may be facing something that has me tense and ill at ease--but then things smooth out for a bit.  Then all too short a time later, things seem to flop out of control and you want to start over.  Only in life, it's not as simple as zipping down the personal products aisle at Walmart for a replacement.

I often feel like Jekyl and Hyde.  I am so blessed in so many areas of my life.  But I continue to struggle greatly with the day job.  And I do not hesitate to thank my heavenly Father profusely for His blessings, then I feel guilty for being so miserable at work, where I feel trapped (and yes, I know, someone is bound to read this and think "Well then just shut up and get a different job,"  Wish it were that easy).  And I plead for answers.  There's a lot about my job to dislike.  The thing is, I have a strong sense that I can still make a difference where I am.  And these two parts are constantly at war.

But I read a devotional this morning that nails it, entitled "That Nagging Sense of Dissatisfaction."

Somehow I manage to be dissatisfied with some aspect of my life all the time--the perpetually played out scrunchy.  The point of the devotional of course, is to focus our attention more on the Lord.  But again, that's not always so easy in these fallible human bodies in which we live; these bodies in which dissatisfaction can so easily reside.

I need to learn to think like a two-week old shower scrunchy that is neither too uptight or too played out.  One that that is happy and well adjusted to it's task.