The noun, rumination, means a deep considered thought about something.

Last Sunday I was taking my morning shower when I dropped a bottle of “body wash” in my bathtub. Much to my unpleasant surprise, the plastic bottle fell bottom first onto the floor of the bathtub and then squirted body wash (too quickly to dodge) directly into my left eye.

Boy did it burn and cause my eye to become immediately irritated, turning bright red. 

I quickly doused my eye with water and over the next few hours my eye recovered back to normal.

“I bet that I could not make that happen again in a million tries,” I said to my wife afterward.

That made me think about how sometimes in life we believe the remote possibility of something happening will not occur as the law of averages are on our side. For example, I will not use my seatbelt in the car as the chances of me having an accident in the few blocks traveling to the store is small. Or I will not bring an umbrella as more likely than not I will not be caught in the rain. Or the chances of lightning striking as I am running  to my car from a building are so remote that I can risk it to get there in a thunderstorm.

Yet these remotes things do occur.

We should not be tempted to take such chances with our faith. We should not be tempted to say I can put off going to confession (when we think we should) until later, as no one can be sure there will be a later time to do so.

With All Souls Day just two weeks ago, let’s prioritize our needs to always put God first. Let us strive to not put off until tomorrow something God calls us to today, as that tomorrow may not come. 



By Deacon Tom Gryzbek