There once was a beautiful county park in Oregon. One day, as the sun was just rising, a woman went for a walk with her dog, Mo. On her way from the parking lot to the lake, they passed a pet waste stand that had been lovingly provided by the donations. Knowing that they would be walking for quite a while (the Basenji well-known for his boundless energy), the woman had the forethought to grab a poop bag, just in case. As she reached up, awkwardly high that it was, and pulled a poop bag out of the dispenser, the metal front panel, unlocked as it was, fell open, the hinges on the bottom, and smacked her in the face.

That was odd, she thought, rubbing her cheek. Eyebrows knit together. Perplexing, she thought, as she fumbled with the front panel a bit. trying to engage the locking mechanism at the top in hopes of putting the dispenser back in working order without future incident. At first, she thought she might need a key. And as she thought that, a man came up in a golf cart who, just so happenly, had the key. The man fumbled with the lock a bit, the new Caretaker that he was, but it simply wouldn’t budge, even with the key. As the man had the front panel open, the woman was able to see tape marks on the top and deduced that not only does the lock not work, but also that someone must already know about the faulty dispenser having tried to McGuyver it already. 

The maintenance guy must know about it.

Okay. He’s filled out a work order to get it fixed.

What’s that? His supervisor has to schedule it?

Oh! The part is on order, and they’re waiting for it to come in.

Yes, yes. Turns out the facilities person plans to remove the whole dispenser, but hasn’t gotten to it yet. This one doesn’t get much traffic.

I see. New plan. They performed a study, and this dispenser by the lake is actually in a high-use area. They’re going to replace the lock after all. 

Cancel that! They’re going to replace the whole dispenser after all.

Nope. Now we have to wait for the larger project where the county will replace the entire lot of dispensers.

Oh, wait. The Parks Department got a new supervisor, and now the county is heading in a new direction. 

What’s that? No, there doesn’t seem to be a request for that repair after all. Go ahead and fill out a work order.

No, we can’t do that. There are new procedures.

As the sun was just setting in that same beautiful park, a woman went for a walk with her dog. On her way from the parking lot to the lake, the woman spotted a doggie bag dispenser, reached up to grab a bag, and SMACK! She cussed a few choice words and moved on. 

One morning, a woman walks her dog, and as she reaches for a dog poop bag, she chuckles a little, remembering to be careful, which she does, yet still, SMACK! 

Later, the woman walks her dog and skips the dog bag. “We have rules around here, lady!”, says the new park attendant as he smacks her with a $500 fine for not picking up her dog’s poop.

A woman lies in bed in her van with her dog as she peeks out her window to see the sun rise in a county park when SMACK! A brand new county fleet vehicle rams into the car in front of them as the driver, smirk on his face, is distracted by a person struggling to get a dog bag out of the bag dispenser.

Those with ears, let them hear. Tip: It’s not about the dog bag. Think how our processes and procedures are interfering with the actual work. Or something like that. Question: How might this relate to one’s spiritual life?