A woman has an affair during the day while her husband is at work. Her nine-year-old son comes home unexpectedly, sees the illegal lovers and hides in the bedroom cupboard to watch. Then the woman’s husband unexpectedly comes home.
She hides her lover in the cupboard, not realizing that her little boy is in there already.
The little Boy says: “Dark in here.”
The Man says: “Yes, it is.”
Boy: “I have a soccer ball, do you want to buy it?”
Man: “No, thanks.”
Boy: “My dad’s outside, I’ll call him if you don’t buy it!”
Man: “OK, how much?”
Boy: “R250-00.”
A few weeks later it happened again and the boy and the lover were in the cupboard together again.
Boy: “Dark in here”.
Man: “Yes, it is.”
Boy: “I have soccer boots.”
The Man, remembering the last time, asks the boy: “How much?”
The Boy says:”R750-00.”
The Man says: “Fine, I will buy them.”
A few days later, the Father says to the boy: “Grab your ball and boots, let’s go outside and have a game.”
The Boy says: “I can’t, I sold them for R1000.”
The Father says: “That’s terrible to overcharge your friends like that… R1000 is way more than those two things cost. I’m going to take you to church and make you confess your sins.” They go to church and the father makes the little boy sit in the confession booth and he closes the door.
The Boy says: “Dark in here.”
The Priest says: “Don’t start that sh!t again! This is my church and not your father’s house!”
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I got this joke in my inbox today – gave me a good giggle. But the punch-line bugged me, somehow. I tried to shrug it off and get some work done – but the gnawing in my mind kept getting worse.
I finally gave up and tried to figure out what was going on. Then it hit me:
“This is My church and not your Father’s House…”
Now I’m not going to make a soap-box moment of this – but I realized that this sentence holds the key to a great revelation. I’m still hacking at the lock, but it feels like most of the unhappiness in the world is caused by a similar mentality:
This is MY church and NOT your Father’s House.
This is MY presidency, MY company, MY rules…
The answer to serenity, peace and harmony is, of course, the antithesis:
“This is NOT my church, but your Father’s House.”
May God, as you understand God, reclaim the Place you need from those who deny you yourself.
