Wigging Out
There is no known cure for sticker shock. You want to purchase something at a fair and reasonable price. When you see the sticker, you blink… wondering what you ate that morning causing the hallucinations.
Perhaps the fumes from the trains idling at the nearby crossing have finally triggered some mental relapse. The high-tension wires overhead are changing the brain wave patterns in your head and you are officially “wigging out”.
Then, after blinking twice more and shaking your head to clear your thoughts, the shock settles in as you realize the price is real. No more wigging for you, you are about to shell out some dough!
How can they charge so much for school supplies?
Before I am awarded the Cheap Dad of the Year trophy, let’s back up a few months to the shopping for school clothes, the new shoes, and the “first” organizer (the one with the convenient zippered pouch for the supplies). The second organizer was purchased after the first one slipped under the tire of the car… well, we can talk about that one later.
First, let’s talk about the list the school sends home for mid-year wigging out. We need the “recommended” binders in the “recommended” colors and the other supplies ranging from “safety glue” and “safety scissors” to a specific “#2 pencil and hard rubber eraser”. The second organizer must be replaced with a third having safety rings to avoid pinching little fingers. The zippered pouch thriftily salvaged from the first organizer must also be replaced with one that is transparent – for unnamed safety reasons.
A classmate was sent home with lice and the school is recommending a certain brand of shampoo. Oh, and by the way, the jumbo box of crayons spilled in the unzipped backpack, which leaked them all the way home from school like the little girl on the Morton’s Salt Container spilling salt as she skips through the rain.
(And, by the way, can someone get her out of the rain before she catches a cold, and drives up salt prices as she spills the surplus on the ground behind her?)
Ok, I’ll admit… I have collected some horror stories from other parents and knitted together this little piece of fiction – all the facts are true but the names have been changed to protect the innocent (I don’t even know the name of the Morton Salt girl, but I bet her parent’s are wigging out over the spilled salt).
Of course, for each of these tales, there are counterpart stories from experienced parents of school-aged children. These parents know you wait until the “recommended” list comes from the school before you purchase supplies, including the mid-year, going back to school after winter break purchases. They know the only backpacks you buy are the ones with the openings at the top and none near the bottom, and they have some of that lice shampoo leftover from last year (prevents them from shaving their little angel’s heads and getting the wigs out – another form of wigging out). These experienced parents learn to eliminate the mistakes of their pasts and do not repeat them.
Eliminate the mistakes of our pasts and do not repeat them – sounds almost Biblical, doesn’t it? Actually, we are called to recognize sin (our mistakes) and do not repeat them. 1 John 3:5-6 tells us, “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.”
What I find important about these verses is we are told “…in Him is no sin…”. We are not told in us there is no sin. We are told, instead, we should not “keep on sinning”. This recognizes that by our very human nature we are going to sin, yet when we recognize sin in our lives, we should not “keep on sinning”.
How do we recognize sin in our lives? 1 Thessalonians 1:5 tells us, “…our Gospel came to you not simply with Words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction…”. John 14:26 also tells us, “…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Here we learn we have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, which “…will teach…” and give “…deep conviction…” in our learning and understanding.
God recognizes that sin is part of our nature, yet His supernatural plan for us is to turn away from sin. He sent the Holy Spirit to teach us, to help us recognize sin for what it is, and then directs us that we should not “keep on sinning.”
Can you do this in one day? Some may – I know I am not one of them. I continue to wig out on a daily basis, though I am learning wigging out is rooted in sin. (Thou shalt not wig out?)
I believe this comes from experience. As we begin to learn God’s Word and learn how the Holy Spirit directs our learning, we can recognize the mistakes of our past and not repeat them.
So we bought the wrong school supplies – big deal. We will remember this next year, recognize our mistakes, and not repeat them. We won’t wig out as much.
So we have sinned – since it is a big deal, we should confess it. We will recognize our sin and not repeat it. We won’t wig out as much.
Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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