2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits. ~ Psalm 103:2 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
Just like some people are born blind, I was born without a sense of smell. Because of that, changing a dirty diaper is just not that big of a deal for me. In fact, it’s not much worse to me than changing a wet diaper. Evidently, the smell of a poopy diaper is the problem. (I can only base that on the fact that everybody else in the family coughs, gags, and retches when faced with changing a “shooey” but I escape relatively unscathed.)
So, whenever I see someone dry-heaving at the sight of a well-soiled Huggie, I’m always happy to volunteer my services. Some people consider me a hero, but I think that’s a stretch. I do have a lot of friends, however.
Since our first grandchild was born 6 months ago, I’ve changed a lot of diapers. And I realized the other day how much they’ve improved the process over my lifetime. When I was born, (back in the 20th century) mothers still used cloth diapers. These diapers were held on with large, shiny safety pins — much like tiny harpoons. 
(My mother kept her diaper pins embedded in a bar of Ivory soap, in hopes they would slide through the heavy cotton without puncturing my pancreas.) A pair of plastic pants (the ones that make that crackle sound) went on over the diaper to catch all liquids (and fully insure that the uric acid could fully ripen to smell like household ammonia.)
Also, back-in-the-day there were no pop-up, good-smelling baby wipes. Your mother cleaned you up with a wet washcloth, which went into the diaper pail with all the other soiled and soured things. At the end of the day, everything in the pail had to be washed, dried, and folded. If you weren’t diligent, there would be no diapers for the next day. It was not a good time in history to be changing diapers (or to be wearing them, for that matter.)
But I can tell you from personal experience that the 21st century is a very good time to be alive and changing diapers. You just toss them in the diaper genie that hermetically seals them and sprays them with Lysol. They’ve even improved the disposable diapers since my sons were babies. Of course, in the 1990s there were no dangerous pins. But now they’ve made them to where the tape on them only sticks to the diaper, not to newborn skin.
And baby-wipes come in a variety of sizes and fragrances. For Pete’s sake, Baby Landon even had a little electric box that heated his hiney-wipers so that his little bottom wouldn’t get a chill.
All silliness aside, do you ever stop to think about how comfortable and convenient our lives have become? Do you ever stop to give thanks for all your blessings? I’m convinced that if the Lord ever opened our eyes to all the things He’s done for us, our attitudes would be overflowing with gratitude.
Let’s meet this new week with a new outlook. After all, diapers aren’t the only thing that need changing.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 32 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He recently retired after 28 years as a Mississippi public schoolteacher, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his new grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, have just moved into a pretty brick house in town (that Baby Landon likes very much (where we’re thankful that Hurricane Nate skipped us.) Their kids include Spencer (age 26), his wife Madeline (age 26), and Seth (age 23), and his wife Leanne (age 22). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
