The Same ol' Same ol'

“How are you doing today?”
“Oh, the same ol’ same ol.”
While waiting for breakfast at the local fast food place, I engaged in people watching. Two of the working men greeted each other with the usual clichés. We don’t really want to know how we are doing, and most of us don’t feel like disclosing how we really feel. “The same ol,’ same ol’” is a universal statement of being. It can mean, “Nothing exciting ever happens around here.” Life is boring; its constant sameness numbs the senses. The writer of Ecclesiastes expresses his frustration with the sameness of life: “The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south, and goes around to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” –Ecclesiastes 1:5-9.
The same ol, same ol can also be a good thing. It means there is stability in life. We all like stability. We want the sun to keep rising and setting, if it ever stopped that would be very upsetting. We like a certain amount of sameness in life. Life has a rhythm; we get up and get dressed, go to work and go to bed at night. We look forward to the weekend, when we can relax and enjoy ourselves. We enjoy going on vacation, but towards the end we long to return to our own home and sleep in our own bed. The same ol’ same ol’ isn’t a bad thing at all.
Some people lead lives where everything is different every day. They wake up to a new world every day, where things constantly change. We call that chaos, and it is very upsetting. Give me my sameness, my assurance that God is in control and that life will retain its rhythms. Paul cries out to the pagans, “Yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” –Acts 14:17. God blesses us with rhythms in life. You can call it the same ol’ same ol’ if you want, but it’s a blessing. It’s a rock to stand on—think Psalm 40:2 “He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”
If everything is the same for you today, bless the name of the Lord. He’s given you stability and rhythm in life as a rock to stand on. Enjoy!

“For now we see in a glass, darkly . . .” –I Corinthians 13:12, KJV.
I’ve had these bifocals for several years now, but have had nothing but trouble with them. My distance vision is still excellent, and I only need them to read, so my temptation at first was to merely carry them around with me. I lost the first pair that way. Then, I got them scratched up by sticking them in my pocket. That’s how I supply myself with spare pairs. But I absolutely cannot stand smudges and scratches on my lenses, that are always in front of me, blurring my view of things.
I don’t like cracked windshields, either, but I can live with them. I can look around them and focus beyond the cracks. I see my life as being like a cracked windshield. Various life events, plus bad choices I’ve made and sins I’ve committed have put cracks on it. I try not to focus on these cracks. I want to focus on the road ahead of me and the scenery just in front of me. I refuse to let the cracks mar my perception of life. Windshield cracks are an ever-present annoyance, but I can live with them, because I can stop and get out from behind them and enjoy the view in front of me.
It’s good to do that in life. Occasionally, you need to stop and pray and meditate in order to get away from your absorption with self. Then you can more clearly see the road ahead, or the beauty that life holds just in front of you. You need to look at your blessings and pay attention to the good things in life—Philippians 4:8.
Paul had cracks in his windshield—persecution, sufferings and beatings for the cause of Christ. He details them in 2 Corinthians 11. One of his windshield cracks was his own sin. He acknowledged it—“Jesus Christ came to save sinners—of whom I am chief,” –I Timothy 1:15 KJV. But he didn’t make it his focus. Instead, he focused ahead on his goal of attaining the glory and power of Christ’s resurrection, Philippians 3:10-11. Paul absolutely would not have tolerated smudged eyeglasses, either, especially in regard to his faith-sight. “For we walk by faith, not by sight,” he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7. He was too focused on his goal of the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14) to be distracted by smudges in front of him.
You may have cracks in your windshield because of sin or trouble in life. The trick is to get out from behind them now and then and take in the scenery that lies just in front of you. Looking up the road ahead, you need to see clearly the hope that lies at the end of the journey. It’s a beautiful thing, too pretty to be marred by annoying cracks.