Outside the Box (Part One)

September 4th, 2015 by Carl Buffington

Plastic boxes.jpegPart One: "I don't get it."

What I don’t get is why people--other people of course-- don’t get it.

Think about it. It’s as if each of us lives inside a box. A big box for sure; some bigger, I suppose, some smaller, some taller and some shorter, but a box with a lid, and thus a limited amount of air. And so we only have so many breaths.

(One count is that we have 7,889, 400 breaths per year.
Put on a couple zeros, move the commas,
if we live so long, and we get a close to max number.
But who's counting?)

One day, for certain, the air runs out and we take our last breath.  That’s a fact, a given, it’s sure as shooting, whatever that means. No more air. No more breaths-ing.

I suppose people get that. I mean if you were to ask them, “Do you know you have a last breath? That your air will one day, on a calendar type day, for real, run out?” They would say, “Yes, I suppose I do.” To not say yes, well, would be silly at best, stupid at worst. Wouldn’t it? I must confess though at this point, that I really don’t believe most folks I see out walking their dog, shopping at Publix, cutting me off on I-4, get it -- live like they get it.

Have they ever wondered, though, and this is what I don’t get, “What then?” Have they never ever thought about the box being anything other than a coffin?

(When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish. Today’s Psalm 146.4)

Have they thought – outside the box?

Here’s the thing, only one person has ever taken his last breath and come out of the box--breathing anew.

Thinking outside of the box? Thinking of living outside of the box?

So, there are, I suppose, two things I don’t get.

One is why people live day to day without any thought or reference to their last breath day. And then, two, if they do get it, i.e. there is such a day, since there is just one way out I don’t get why they don’t get it. I mean, more than get it in their mind: I mean access to existentially acquire it, lay hold of it, get it, the way out of the box.

After all the one who has gone outside the box after breathing his last is called THE WAY.

If they got it, they would get it, wouldn't they?

Got it?
Get it?
Live it!

Love to you all,

+Carl

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November 6, 2015 In Friday Epistles, General
Inside the Box (Part Two)
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About this author:

Carl Buffington

Carl Buffington

Carl Buffington is a bishop in Anglican Mission International (AMI). He has been in ministry for over forty years. He lives in Florida with his wife Barb and their lively golden retriever, Sammy.

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