Who doesn't love a slinky? There is something relaxing about holding one and letting the coils shift back and forth. In my classroom when the subject of waves comes up there is a box of slinkys that come out. The student's use them to demonstrate properties of waves. And like all things, there are those students who treat them with care and others who push the bounds of what can be done. So there is a point where a group comes to me with a tangled up ball of wire that once looked like a slinky, but now is a bit unrecognizable.
There of course are the all-stars of slinky tangles. There was this time that I watched a student who had finished toss their slinky indiscriminately into the box of slinkys sitting in a line. This caused theirs to inter-tangle between several others. Or the time that their teacher (yes me)had the bright idea to connect several slinkys end to end using strips of duct tape. This created a super slinky that went on an on and on down the hall. A super-slinky if you will. But as great power brings great responsibility; super-slinkys bring super tangles.
The thing about getting a slinky untangled is that it is never quite the same again. It doesn't quite lie flat anymore. Sometimes pieces need to be cut out and the sections reconnected with (you guessed it) duct tape. There is one slinky that I have that looks perfectly fine, but when you let go, it springs out to maximum length.
There are many things that are like slinkys in this way. They never go back to the original shape. It's like a new sleeping bag that was shipped with all of the air squeezed out. Once expanded it is never going back in the bag. Or the toy that comes shrink wrapped and wire tied, it is never going back in the box.
Our Christian walk should be like this. Changing, deforming, impossible to go back. But instead of damaged slinkys and frustrating packaging, we should think of it more like popcorn. We heat the corn and it pops. There is no way to put it back as a kernel, but who would want to. The good stuff only happens once it is popped. The heat causes and explosion inside that reveals the greatness that was there all along, but covered with a hard shell.
Yeah, That's it. Our Christian walk is like popcorn.
The Christian walk changes us. Every step of the journey is a transformation. And one that from which we can never return to the original shape.
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