Moving from silver (Monday's post) to quicksilver.
Someone broke a thermometer at home, and I cleaned it up. It was fun to push one mercury bubble up against another and watch the two (bloop!) assimilate into one bigger bubble. Mercury is a marvelous thing, isn't it?
That got me thinking about thermometers, and thermostats. One tells you about the change in temperature, and the other one initiates the change in temperature. Do you see yourself more like one or the other? Which would you rather be?
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
marvelous mercury
Moving from silver (Monday's post) to quicksilver.
Someone broke a thermometer at home, and I cleaned it up. It was fun to push one mercury bubble up against another and watch the two (bloop!) assimilate into one bigger bubble. Mercury is a marvelous thing, isn't it?
That got me thinking about thermometers, and thermostats. One tells you about the change in temperature, and the other one initiates the change in temperature. Do you see yourself more like one or the other? Which would you rather be?
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6 comments:
Happiness is the thermometer, joy is the thermostat...
Thermostat any day.
I'd far rather be the agent of change, instead of just "measuring" the so-called change.
Even So…, this is the first time I heard this analogy applied that way. Thanks!
Phil, that's how I was thinking, too. But as I pondered a little longer, I may have found another facet to this gem of an illustration, and this is why I bring it up.
In recent years, I seem to have a heightened sensitivity and stronger reactions to sloppy theology, and truth-bending. Inasmuch as I feel a need to reflect truth (veritas) my new application of the thermometer/thermostat illustration is that I need to “just tell it like it is.” That’s hard to do for a people-pleasing type of personality. But, I want to make an accurate assessment of my environment, understand my climate, and then say, “This is where we’re at, and this is what’s going on…” If God’s word is clear on something, I’m more inclined these days to make a “thus saith the LORD” type of proclamation. (Important: I’m not claiming any newly revealed prophetic utterances, but pointing to already-revealed Scripture.)
As a total side note, did you know that you should never clean a mercury spill by vacuuming? That sends particles into the air, where the poison is most dangerous.
Well, I am a thermometer - like it or not!! God has given me the great gift of being a people person, and so I intuit hurts, joys, needs. So, I agree - making an acurate assessement of your environment is vital and a great gift to anyone your around.
Good question! I think I'm a thermometer, although sometimes I make my boss's blood boil.
1. I can't believe you're playing with mercury
2. A thermostat has to do both because it can't adjust the temperature without knowing what it is
3. Can't I be both?
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