The Fly

The other night, as I was brushing my teeth, tired from a full day, there were two flies in the bathroom driving me crazy. One fly was circling around the light overhead. I put him out of his misery with the flick of a towel. The second one boggled my mind. I followed him with my eyes, and this fly did not stop flying. Usually you wait until they land somewhere, but not this guy. He buzzed around and around, dinging himself against walls and ceilings and just going on.

I have to admit, I was amazed at this fly. Why didn't he stop? Was he just crazy? Despite my exhaustion and need for sleep, I just stayed in the bathroom, hoping for him to just land somewhere. I realized I could have just "let it go" and gone to bed, letting the fly alone. I would be asleep, without having to worry about this fly.

Believe it or not, some theological reflections came to me. Could this be my life? Our life? Flying around without ceasing, despite dinging ourselves? Perhaps this is what we look like to God, but instead of trying to kill us to put us out of our misery, he just looks on, saddened by our insane buzzing around.

The second reflection is that the fly represented the busy-ness of life: the ten thousand things that fly around, distracting me from what was really important: in this instance, getting a good night sleep. This insane fly reminded me in this summer time, when I take a break from busy-ness, to try to avoid paying attention to the flies in my life. They are just not worth it.