Once means always
They plunge through defences (Joel 2:8)
I wonder if you've come across omas? For those interested it's pronounced as in coma not as in comma, and I just made it up. You may have come across the phrase, or proverb, once is never, twice is always. It's meant to remind us to forgive or even to forget it when someone gets something wrong once, but to be warned that if it happens again there's every chance it has become a habit. It is proper for such things, in that it contains enough wisdom to be worth remembering, but also enough stupidity to be aware of it's limitations.
One limitation is that it encourages us to judge repeat offenders as failed characters. The 'three strikes and you're out' law in some American states is an example of this. The first person to suffer under this law was incarcerated for life because he stole a slice of pizza. I am sure examples of how we should not condemn people for getting it wrong more than once abound. My favourite is Jesus' injunction on his disciples to forgive 70 times 7, in other words without limit.
There is another limit on this phrase which encouraged me to suggest a neologism (new word), oma. Omas or OMAs are occasions when a single incident of an event leads to a permanent state i.e. once means always. The well known examples are with addictive drugs. On some occasions one experience of the more addictive drugs like heroine and nicotine can lead to lifelong dependency. Some might jokingly suggest chocolate falls into this category, though it is certainly not the case for me. Omas are things that 'plunge through our defences'.
I have a couple of innocuous examples. The first I discovered in my life as a teacher. You may be aware that teachers still use boards to write on. Mine got used less and less as I went on, but occasionally it was very useful, especially for shared activities. When I started, they were blackboards. Horrible dusty things that accumulated chalk and ruined your clothes. Quite soon they became whiteboards. These were much better in my view, as they were easier for a beginner to write on and the colours were much more vibrant. They had to be cleaned, at first with a cloth and later with a dedicated cleaner. The jacket elbow so favoured with blackboards was no longer a wise idea. Then someone had a brilliant idea. They made whiteboard cleaner. Better than that they made it an oma. Before whiteboard cleaner the use of the pens left a residue of solvent that allowed the board to be easily cleaned with a dry cloth. But, and here's the clever bit, one use of the white board cleaner not only removed the pen marks but also this residue. The new pen marks on the clean board were no longer removable with a simple wipe of a cloth because all the solvent was gone. Now every time you used the board you had to use the white board cleaner. Someone was laughing all the way to the bank. I quickly found a solution: cover the whole newly cleaned board with pen and then wipe it off, and then put a large note making it clear that no one was to use whiteboard cleaner on your board. Others just happily sprayed the revolting stuff on every time, filling the room with solvent and keeping some clever executives in cigars.
The other is briefer, you'll be glad to hear. Slug pellets. Now I know many of you swear by them (and at the slugs) but I made a discovery in our last house. We grew vegetables in the garden very happily with no problems with slugs as the frogs and birds ate them. There were things we couldn't grow of course - marigolds for one - but that was little loss. Then new neighbours moved in, started using slug pellets and suddenly the slugs were everywhere and our veg nowhere. The reason? No more birds. I am not sure if they hated the taste or if the pellets actually killed them, but they certainly weren't there to eat. One use and you have to use them forever. An oma.
For those who know Jesus, there is a spiritual oma. It's known as sin. Not the once of Adam and Eve, necessarily, though that's one way to see it, as Paul writes 'death came through one man'. It is, more properly, the once of every one of us. There is a moment when we turn our backs on God and everything changes. Jesus describes us as like lost sheep, as Isaiah puts it, each gone off on his own way. The god of self has plunged through our defences and once means always, as our hearts have become set on a different path.
Thankfully, it's not the only spiritual oma. As we walk in the post Easter world, we cannot miss that salvation is also an oma. Once for all upon the cross, Christ died. There are no limits on his ability to save, to draw us back to himself, to deal with the destructive and desolate power of a life held captive by sin, by self. Once means always. If you haven't accepted that for yourself, now would be a very good time to do so.
I wonder if you've come across omas? For those interested it's pronounced as in coma not as in comma, and I just made it up. You may have come across the phrase, or proverb, once is never, twice is always. It's meant to remind us to forgive or even to forget it when someone gets something wrong once, but to be warned that if it happens again there's every chance it has become a habit. It is proper for such things, in that it contains enough wisdom to be worth remembering, but also enough stupidity to be aware of it's limitations.
One limitation is that it encourages us to judge repeat offenders as failed characters. The 'three strikes and you're out' law in some American states is an example of this. The first person to suffer under this law was incarcerated for life because he stole a slice of pizza. I am sure examples of how we should not condemn people for getting it wrong more than once abound. My favourite is Jesus' injunction on his disciples to forgive 70 times 7, in other words without limit.
There is another limit on this phrase which encouraged me to suggest a neologism (new word), oma. Omas or OMAs are occasions when a single incident of an event leads to a permanent state i.e. once means always. The well known examples are with addictive drugs. On some occasions one experience of the more addictive drugs like heroine and nicotine can lead to lifelong dependency. Some might jokingly suggest chocolate falls into this category, though it is certainly not the case for me. Omas are things that 'plunge through our defences'.
I have a couple of innocuous examples. The first I discovered in my life as a teacher. You may be aware that teachers still use boards to write on. Mine got used less and less as I went on, but occasionally it was very useful, especially for shared activities. When I started, they were blackboards. Horrible dusty things that accumulated chalk and ruined your clothes. Quite soon they became whiteboards. These were much better in my view, as they were easier for a beginner to write on and the colours were much more vibrant. They had to be cleaned, at first with a cloth and later with a dedicated cleaner. The jacket elbow so favoured with blackboards was no longer a wise idea. Then someone had a brilliant idea. They made whiteboard cleaner. Better than that they made it an oma. Before whiteboard cleaner the use of the pens left a residue of solvent that allowed the board to be easily cleaned with a dry cloth. But, and here's the clever bit, one use of the white board cleaner not only removed the pen marks but also this residue. The new pen marks on the clean board were no longer removable with a simple wipe of a cloth because all the solvent was gone. Now every time you used the board you had to use the white board cleaner. Someone was laughing all the way to the bank. I quickly found a solution: cover the whole newly cleaned board with pen and then wipe it off, and then put a large note making it clear that no one was to use whiteboard cleaner on your board. Others just happily sprayed the revolting stuff on every time, filling the room with solvent and keeping some clever executives in cigars.
The other is briefer, you'll be glad to hear. Slug pellets. Now I know many of you swear by them (and at the slugs) but I made a discovery in our last house. We grew vegetables in the garden very happily with no problems with slugs as the frogs and birds ate them. There were things we couldn't grow of course - marigolds for one - but that was little loss. Then new neighbours moved in, started using slug pellets and suddenly the slugs were everywhere and our veg nowhere. The reason? No more birds. I am not sure if they hated the taste or if the pellets actually killed them, but they certainly weren't there to eat. One use and you have to use them forever. An oma.
For those who know Jesus, there is a spiritual oma. It's known as sin. Not the once of Adam and Eve, necessarily, though that's one way to see it, as Paul writes 'death came through one man'. It is, more properly, the once of every one of us. There is a moment when we turn our backs on God and everything changes. Jesus describes us as like lost sheep, as Isaiah puts it, each gone off on his own way. The god of self has plunged through our defences and once means always, as our hearts have become set on a different path.
Thankfully, it's not the only spiritual oma. As we walk in the post Easter world, we cannot miss that salvation is also an oma. Once for all upon the cross, Christ died. There are no limits on his ability to save, to draw us back to himself, to deal with the destructive and desolate power of a life held captive by sin, by self. Once means always. If you haven't accepted that for yourself, now would be a very good time to do so.
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| Inside the hermitage of Isravele, Mondello, Sicily |
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