Blessed are they … and so the beatitudes begin as they call us to a different perspective on life’s perceptions, periods, and priorities. We are called to consider that appearances may be misleading.
That challenges us to pause and think about what is right, what comprises living justly, walking humbly, loving mercy. That’s where I found myself recently as I stared at the end of the deodorant stick.
This is a relatively new issue for me. I’ve been an Arrid XX guy for as long as I can remember. A roll on Arrid XX guy to be specific. A few years ago my roll on option left the store shelves, so I turned to Amazon where I could still find it one case at a time. Then, about a year ago that supply ran out and the laws of supply/demand pushed the price of a single roll on container to just over $30. While I am considerate of those around me, this required a change to getting my daily Arrid XX smell blocker via a stick.
I’m the kind of guy that gives every kernel a chance to be popped. Every flake of oatmeal, a path to the pan. They grew for a purpose and my responsibility is to help them fulfill it. But this small amount of deodorant inside the plastic push up mechanism of stick deodorant, am I to dig it out and help it find its path to my pits or congratulate it on the luck of the draw, or pour that is?
Not every lot in life is a desired one. On one hand, I can’t imagine the deodorant has spent its life longing for the day when it finally protects my pits but, on the other, why wouldn’t it still want to do what it was made to do? Just because it is at the bottom of the stick, at a point where most don’t see it as having a purpose, doesn’t mean it has no worth. Is this a beatitude waiting to happen?
Blessed is the deodorant in the plastic cup at the bottom of the stick for it shall be …
Shall be what? Dug out? Applied? Tossed? Overlooked? Forgotten? Congratulated?
Such a quandary. Such a reality for that which has so much left to give but is no longer viewed that way. By others for certain. By itself, perhaps.
Last Wednesday my pits were perfect and my fingers that had dug out the remaining Arrid XX and applied it stayed dry and smelled good all day. There is purpose, indeed, at the end of the stick.