ShamWow.Is.Our.Answer
I for the life of me can’t fall asleep before 2 am now days. I sit on the couch and chat with friends while I flip through the channels. Despite my best efforts to keep the television the background music to my alone time, I always manage to get sucked into those stupid infomercials. Every time I sit there and laugh at how silly they are and every time I find myself convinced that this knife set will change my life forever. Convinced that ShamWow is a revolutionary idea. Convinced that Billy Maze knows the deep conflicts that stir in my heart and is willing to help me solve them for 3 easy payments of $39.99.
And it’s the moment where I find myself reaching for the phone that I snap out of this. You know exactly what I’m talking about. They show that woman trying to prepare dinner for her family. Its black and white. She looks like she’s been through the war. Her kids are running around the house. She misses the slippery tomato with her house held knife and nearly cuts off her arm. She lets out a huge sigh and looks up to the heavens for an answer to this epic problem that taunts her daily existence. In comes the happy music. Suddenly we see things in color. This woman has lost 30 pounds and looks like a million bucks. Her children are now doing their homework peacefully as Billy Maze comes in on a cloud bring her the answers to life in the form of this BRAND NEW KNIFE SET! The whole family is happy and this tomato that nearly lead our main character to a self-amputation is now neatly diced into a summer salad for all to enjoy.
Today’s media does a good job at selling us products but they do an even better job at selling us problems that don’t exist. It’s in that moment that I reach for the phone that I realize my knife set does the job just fine. It’s in that moment that I reach for the phone that I realize that my life okay the way it is. These problems we are sold on a daily basis aren’t really problems. Yes ShamWow might save me a few minutes and yes a knife set that can cut a penny into, as many pieces as my heart desires might be cool to own. But if we as a society buy into these problems then I think we are missing out on bigger issues around us.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
God’s tugging on our heartstrings again. He wants us to serve those who have nothing to offer us in return. He wants to remind us that the common denominator here is that we are all human and if one of us struggles we all struggle. And I’m not too convinced that God see’s cutting tomatoes as a struggle. I’m not too convinced that God agrees with Billy Maze’s techniques. Lets be honest here, ShamWow.Isn’t.Our.Answer
-Billy
