Yesterday at church the high councilman ended his talk with this little gem:
"You know the saying, when you are sent to drain a swamp and you are hip deep in alligators, it's easy to ask why you're there."
No, I didn't know the saying but now that I know it, I wish I didn't.
I think he was comparing draining a swamp to attending church. Like you are supposed to be wondering "what the heck! This sucks, why am I here? I am all muddy and alligators are biting me."
I guess that would make the speaker an alligator. Or is everyone around me an alligator? Those are bad right?
Am I supposed to get rid of him or do you leave alligators when you drain swamps? Or am I the alligator? Am I supposed to drain the church of something? Not literally of course but what does draining imply?
I must purge the chapel of sinners!
Is this before or after an oil spill?
This metaphor is drowning me! Wait I've got it. Church = dangerous quagmire.
Maybe I should stay home? Is that what he is trying to tell me?
Walking into the middle of a swamp seems like a really dumb way to drain it.
ReplyDeleteWhat was his talk on? Church attendance? If so, I guess I could see the confusion.
ReplyDeleteOr was it on adversity or gratefulness or obedience?
Doug, I wouldn't know the first thing about swamp draining. But you might have to be wet in order to accomplish the task.
ReplyDeleteNitsy, he was kind of all over the place but I think he meant commandments in general but this comment came right after discussing the benefits of church attendence. I remember the previous speaker talking about how boring he thought sacrament meeting was but how much he loved the 2nd two hours because it "gets better." I think they were trying to convince us to stay for the full three hours.
He was talking about reading your scriptures and going to the temple. I guess those are kind of quagmires also? Or maybe they're the alligators?
ReplyDeleteEither way, I'm not quite sure what the metaphor meant, and I'm pretty sure it's not a real saying. Googling returned results suggesting the original saying might be "When you're up to your (hip/eyeballs/behind/etc) in alligators, it's easy to forget you came to drain the swamp", which means immediate dangers can easily sidetrack you from your long-term goals. Which has nothing to do with going to church.
I've told my kids that going to church is like working out. While you're there it is painful and you wonder why you are doing it. But when it's done, you feel so good!!! (Well, it worked for them!) LOL!
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