Thought of the Day- 25 January 2007

"Whoever smelt it, dealt it!"

Last night, during a fatal game of Mafia, one my friends, Ellison, a Hong Kong resident who spent half of his life at a boarding school in Britain (he has quite the British accent), uttered these words after he had been accused of "being Mafia"

"In this game my girl, Whoever smelt it, dealt it!"

Whether or not this defense worked I don't recall, but the very fact that he used this statement as a defense for his life makes one wonder. Can the idea of "whoever hath smelteth it, hath dealteth it" (KJV) really be applied to other aspects of life besides flatulence?

I recall hearing some wise man once say, Get the tree out of your own eye ball before you start picking at the splinter/eyelash in your friends! (loose translation of Jesus in Matt. 7:4)

I know this may be a stretch (I started it out with a farting reference!) but in all reality it is so true. Many times as individuals we look at the faults ('stink'n' parts) of other people and rip them apart. In reality, the reason we often get so upset, and what we fail to see, is that the thing that we despise in the other person, the thing that stinks to us, is a characteristic or sin that we posses. I will always remember my mom telling me, "Brandon, the faults you see in other people are often the things that are inside yourself." The reason I will remember this for so long is because it made me so mad! Looking back now from a perspective of wanting to grow and mature as a man of God, I can say that my mom was right on. Many of the things that I despise in others are some of the very things that I myself do. Realizing this, there are three things that I must do.

1. Recognize who I am! I am not God!
2. "Have mercy" (kind of like Uncle Jesse on Full House). God has shown me so so much. That mercy which I give to others pales in comparison.
3. Check myself! See if that which annoys me in others is something that have in myself. Grow from it. Grow in patience, mercy, and love!

So, from Mafia, to farting, to biblical application...I will leave you with this. A definition

flat·u·lent /ˈflætʃələnt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[flach-uh-luhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. generating gas in the alimentary canal, as food.

"Whoever smelt it, dealt it!"