Do Not Touch

Remember the old Far Side cartoon with 4 panels of menacing-looking things? There was a fish with spikes, a porcupine (I think), something else, and then a man with an inflatable swim ducky around his waist holding a gun. The caption reads, "How nature says, 'Do Not Touch'".

A good friend of mine has a walk that says the same thing. I learned this when we worked together several years ago. To properly do this, you cock your head to the right about 15 degrees. You hunch over ever so slightly. You walk real slowly and get a look on your face that is a combination of wry smile and palpable anger. I found myself doing this around the office one day about a year or so ago and a coworker picked up on it. He actually stopped to ask me if I was OK because he thought I didn't look good. Mission accomplished.

I had a roommate in college who was a complete sluggard about getting out of bed. That was yet another reason he didn't like me, a morning person. I do remember a memorable quote of his, "The worst thing about a nap is that you have to get up twice in the same day." For me, the worst part of going out of the office at lunchtime is that you have to come into the building twice in the same day. And then I find myself automatically going into the "Do not touch" walk.

I know that I can get out of myself with this and be OK. My flesh cries out for me to remain introspective and miserable. God tells me to look to Him and live. I think He has a better way.