Only a Shred

Acts 3:19  (CEV): So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven.

I don’t know exactly how many of  you have used a shredder, although I suspect that most of us have at one time or another. We’ve burned through several shredders because we generate a lot of paper we need to destroy

I was shredding something the other day, and when I finished I decided to look at the little warning icons that lie beneath the shredder’s slot where all the bad paper goes to die. This was the first time I had looked closely at the warnings, and I found these:

1. An exclamation point, which meant either “danger” or “I’m excited about shredding.” Don’t laugh too much at that. Kathi Crowder says she enjoys “shredder therapy” and looks forward to tearing paper up. It is cathartic, I must admit.
2. An icon of what I take to be a book which must mean, “Only shred the pages and not the hard covers, dummy.”
3. An icon of what look like fingers. This must be a warning to not put your fingers into the slot, to which I say, “Duh!” The only fingers fitting into that eighth inch slot would be the legendary ribbon fingers. Or a baby’s fingers, although anyone who would let a baby near a shredder is seriously lacking. If you’ve wanted to do this, I have these words for you: “Don’t! And call your mental health professional yesterday!”
4. A representation of a screwdriver. ‘Nuff said, except “Don’t!”
5. A picture of a necktie. Don’t put that in unless you’d like to have a real necktie party.
6. What seems to be an aerosol can. Don’t even try to shred that unless you’ve been aching for a new shredder. What I think they mean is, “Don’t try to spray the contents of the can into the slot.” But why would you want to?
7. What I take to be a representation of a woman’s hair. No. Don’t unless you want a really funky hairdo.

The point of all this, besides advocating safety at home and office, is that all of us have things we’d done or thought that need to be shredded. We can try to be our own shredders and try to do something about the many ways that we fall short. But we can’t. Only God can change our ways for the better, and the ultimate example of that was Christ’s death on Calvary. And it wasn’t paper that God destroyed but rather the grip of sin and death upon our souls. Praise God for his love, grace and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross so that we don’t have to worry about shredding our lives. God had already done it before we were born. Amen.