Three Minute Showers
What is the fastest shower you have ever taken? Well, the fastest shower that you ever took where you used soap and shampoo and made sure you were clean. Do you think you could do it in 3 minutes? Maybe? Ok, what if you had played soccer on a clay field (yes, they exist) for two hours and were covered head to toe in sweat and rust colored dust? Three minutes was the expectation in boarding school.
Of course, three minute showers were instituted to conserve water in a drought prone area. In times past at my boarding school in the southern mountains of India, there were moments when water supplies were so low that water was brought to the school in large tanks on a horse cart and had to be rationed amongst the dorms. Thankfully that was before my time. The worst we had to endure was being rationed one bucket of hot water and a dipper to use to get clean. We had to stand or squat in a plastic tub so the used bath water could be poured into barrels to later be used to flush toilets. Our dorm parents at the time had been on staff during the worst of those drought stricken years so their showering philosophy was shaped accordingly.
Photo by kevin Baquerizo
Three minute showers were a tough adjustment to new students like me. Especially after being home and taking your time to get clean. However, in India there was always somewhat of a time limit on your showers. At each of the homes we lived in there were small water boilers in the bathrooms. When you wanted to shower or do the dishes you would flick it on, come back in ten minutes and then shower. And, unless you wanted to take a cold shower, you had to finish getting clean before the hot water from that small heater ran out.
Three minutes was a little fast for me. Imagine for the girls! How are you supposed to wash and condition your long hair in that amount of time? Plus, an unfortunate reality at our boarding school was that the girls campus had many more issues with water than the boys campus. Hence, the staff were much more strict about timing the showers. Obviously I was never present, but I’m pretty sure a staff member or senior student literally stood there with a stopwatch for those poor, wretched girls. For us gents on the main campus, as you got older and depending on the dorm, the three minute showers were more of a guideline. BUT no matter who you were (unless you were some rule breaking scoff-law) you only had showers three times a week. Yes. Three times a week for three minutes. Nine minutes of showering a week for us teenagers. I’ll just say the Axe Bodyspray was flowing freely from those spray cans every morning. There is probably a hole in the ozone layer above Ooty. I took many a cold shower on many a chilly mountain night because I missed the allotted time for the dorm when the water was heated for everyone. At that point it was under three minutes by choice.
Life is like that isn’t it? Life comes at you fast. I think it was an insurance commercial that got that phrase stuck in my mind. Unfortunately, for the insurance company the commercial failed because while I will always remember the phrase I don’t remember the company. But yes, sometimes life feels like a sprint rather than a marathon.
It didn’t feel that way growing up. Just for adulthood. Blink and college is done. Blink and you are a decade into your career. You get married and blink you have a baby. Blink and your litter has tripled. Blink and your baby is ready for school. I’m afraid to blink again and see what flew by this time! And why is it that a day can feel like an eternity but before you know it it's the end of the month!? What happened to my hairline and can these kids stop mentioning the white hairs on my head? I guess at least the hair is still there. Blink and it won’t be I suppose.
Sometimes we get so busy with the grind of work and planning for our future that the present slips by unnoticed or under appreciated. Our plans for a nice future for our family are irrelevant because when they actually come to fruition we are already focusing on the next thing. Life comes at us fast and we blink our way through it all. Maybe it’s just me? I suspect it's like that for you too sometimes. It's like Andy Bernard in the last season of NBC’s The Office when he says “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good ole days before you’ve actually left them.”
There is no one outside your door with a stopwatch tapping their foot impatiently and asking if you started shampooing yet. We all know life is short, no one needs to tell us that. We all know life comes at you fast. The longer you live the more you realize that, and the longer you live the faster time seems to fly. But as much is in our control, let’s slow down. I know, it's not the American way. Work hard, stay busy, plan ahead, make sure your kids are busy too…but what is the Christian way? What is the Christian life? Of course we are called to diligence and faithfulness in our work but also: slow down. Enjoy the blessings God has placed in your life. Solomon is bleak in Ecclesiastes but he does remind the reader to eat and drink and enjoy their labor (Eccl 5:18-19). We can enjoy the gifts God has given us; that brings Him glory just like working hard does.
As a father, as a husband, and as a working man I often live my life in the tomorrow so my family will be cared for. But those I love live in the today, and I don’t want to blink it all away. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells us that each day has enough trouble of its own so don’t worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34). So, I for one am going to sit on the carpet this weekend and push that train with my son round and round that circular track, I’ll be the dragon my daughter wants to kill with her paper-towel-roll sword and I’ll try to let tomorrow worry about itself. Life often feels like that three minute speed shower, but we can try our best to pause and enjoy the many blessings and soak it in in real time.
It will be a proud day for me when I can look my daughter and sons in the eye at eye level (or look up at them!). But I don’t want to miss these days when they want to be picked up. God is kind to give us these days. How sweet they can be and I know how sweet the memory of them will be too. “Taste and see that the LORD is good” says King David (Psalm 34:8). Let’s not wait but taste and savor and see right now!
Seth.
P.S. If you appreciate or enjoy the work I am doing at Marvelous India, feel free to say thank you by buying me a cup of chai!
