Saturday, 11 July 2009
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Do You Know Why You Do the Things You Do?
Traditions, old habits – who really knows if any of them have any relevance? I once heard a story about just this.A man had been working hard all day. He anticipated getting home, sitting down at the dinner table and eating the ham that his wife was preparing for him. When the man got off of work, he rushed to his truck, driving home as fast as he could! When he got home, he pulled in the drive, rushed through the kitchen door, making sure that dinner was ready. It was!
He washed up and returned to the kitchen table, where his plate had been prepared by his wife. He sat down and made a request that surprised his wife. He told her that he wanted ham slices from the butt of the ham. His wife said that she didn't have butt pieces to eat, because she cuts the butt off of each end and throws them out. Her husband asked her, "Why would you do that?"
She answered that she does it because that is what her mother did, and that her mother taught her how to cook ham. So the husband said, "Okay, I got that, but why do you cut the butt pieces off?"
The wife finally said, "I really don't know the answer to that question, but I'll ask my mother."
So the husband went on and ate his dinner and finished his evening in front of the fireplace, reading a book. When the husband got up the next morning, he reminded the wife to ask her mother about the butt of the ham. Well, the wife called her mother that morning and asked her why the butts are cut off of ham. Her mother told her that she didn't know, but that is how her mother prepared and cooked butt ham. So the wife's mother told her to call her grandmother and ask her why she cuts the butts off of the ham. As soon as the wife hung up from speaking with her mom, she called grandma!
After saying good morning to grandma, the wife asked grandma, "Why do people cut the butt off of ham?" Grandma told her that the reason that the butt is cut off of each end is because the ovens were too small to fit a whole ham. So, the ends of the ham were cut off. Well, the ovens that applied to this situation were no longer in circulation and had not been for 40 or 50 years! There was absolutely no reason for the wife to do what she was doing, but she never bothered to to question the validity of her actions.
As Christians, we need to make sure that our actions are acceptable in God's sight and that they are based on the word and not based on tradition or habit!
Do you do things for reasons you can't explain?
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About the Author
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- From: denisethornton919
- Name: denisethornton919
- About Me: I am a wife and mother. I enjoy reading, writing and sewing. I am pretty artistic. I also like to decorate. I love the outdoors and like walking along lakefronts. I am passionate about issues that involve the welfare of our children and about issues that negatively effect our society. I want to make a difference in as many lives as I can while I can.
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Comments (11)
Habits can be good or bad. The story I like is about the alchemist’s stone, of which the legend says could be used to turn things to gold.
A young man was searching for the stone and one day was told by a passing wise man that it could be found on a nearby beach. The stone resembled the other small stones and the only way to tell the difference was that the Alchemist’s stone was warm. So, the young man went to the beach and saw thousands of stones. Grimly, he picked up the first stone. It was cold and he threw it in the water. He did this hour by hour, day by day, and week by week. One day he reached down, picked up a stone, felt that it was warm, and threw it in the water. Pick your habits carefully.
One of the best habits I was taught as a child, due to my Catholic upbringing, was regular and frequent prayer. Although I am no longer a Catholic, the habit is one I shall always be grateful for. The personal relationship I have developed through that two-way communication with my Father in Heaven has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
I can't think of anything because I am such a horribly stubborn person and I feel like I have to know the reason behind why I do everything....
I think this blog is funny, lol. It's so ironic. I guess it is a waste for the butt of the ham, but, oh well, at least we know why it's been that way now!
i heard that story before and it brings to thoughts to mind
first is that we should stay sharp and not do things just because they are tradition, to not be blind in what we do or stand for. this reminds me of the Christians that persecuted scientists that asserted that the Earth was round and not flat.
the second thing is totally opposite, we shouldn't be so innovative that we try to re-invent things that actually were working, because ultimately we do not know everything. sometimes there are things that just work and we do not know the reason behind it, and that is not a good reason to change.
i know this kind of thinking is very un-American, but in Chinese culture there is more value put on tradition. they say "when drinking water you should be aware of the source", that honoring tradition is a way to be humble and honor our roots.
i'm not a doctor or any kind of medical professional, but i have been told that many medical procedures or the way that lots of medication work are actually not explained/understood. that all we see is that it works and we do not always have a good explaination for it. just like in Newtonian physics, the theory worked as it explained the observable evidence, but then Theory of Relativity brought new explainations that replaces Newtonian physics, just to show that we don't always know everything but it doesnt mean we need to throw out the current theory that is working.
I am sure many of us still do things, just because that is the way we were taught and have the opinon if it works why change it.. I love the lesson in that story.
Thanks for sharing!
@TropicalOceanSunset@xanga - lol me too!
Everyone does things without knowing the reasons, because everybody rationalizes.
That is a very good point, I think, because we need to know why we do what we do! I am sure there are things I do "just because", although I can't think of any at the moment. I tend to question things, though =P
This is a cute little story that I've heard many times before by Protestants who try to convince Catholics that sacred tradition is worthless. If only they would apply the Sacred Scripture to their cute little story, then the story would crumble under the unbearable weight of the holy Scriptures. St. Paul himself says in his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians, "So
then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by
us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2:15). There are many other verses that corroborate the necessity of Sacred Tradition. I wish you would use the whole scripture, or even any of it, when trying to make a point about scripture and tradition. Instead of referring to scripture, you used a cute story to try to get your point across. I could make up a cute story giving merit to Sacred Tradition, but I'm lazy so I'll just use the Holy Writ. Here are a bunch verses for the need for Tradition: http://www.scborromeo.org/glad/spaft.htm
God bless!
Sometimes. I just think it's me, though.