Perceptions column: Entropy
Our dishwasher leaks. The driveway needs gravel. The trees need pruning. The paint is fading. Our windows are dirty. The floors are scuffed. The trash is full.
Fourteen years ago, when we finished building our house, I thought we had reached the promised land. Everything was sparkly clean and worked just the way the manufacturer promised. Now everything falls into one of two categories: breaking or broken.
Scientists call it entropy. Theologians call it the fall. I call it depressing. Destructive forces are hacking away at my world. My computer is running slower. My muscles are losing their elasticity. My coffee is losing its heat.
The fact that our world keeps coming unglued is clear. What is not so clear is how it holds together. Entropy explains why it is easy to fall off a log, but how did we get up there in the first place? How are we are able to walk on the log and keep our balance?
Clearly, there is more than one force at work in our world. We are caught up in a drama. Something is dragging us down. Something is lifting us up. Something is tearing us apart. Something is holding us together.
Giving in to the forces of destruction is as effortless as plopping down on a couch. Cooperating with the life-giving force of new creation is much more difficult. It is also much more satisfying.
As corny as it may sound, I consider working on my dishwasher an act of faith. I sweat and strain to fix it because I have a strong sense that someone is sweating and straining to fix me.
