I tend to have a controlled temper most of the time. I am trying to take a day off that isn’t focused on New City/Barrio Nuevo stuff. Yesterday I met with Ernie a good friend to talk about doing urban work. I came home after doing a Lowe’s stop to get the new insides for our master bath toilet. I thought to myself this will be a slam-dunk and I’ll be finished in 30 minutes. Wow, like 5 hours later after dinner I do my 3rd Lowe’s run. It reminded me about Saturday when I helped a friend do a yard of concrete and it took not fours to finish but almost 8 for the last little patch to get hard.
As I stepped back and looked at a slow leak on my toilet after the 3rd time of changing out the inside I was ready to scream but something inside said NO don’t STOP try once more. I can see now how easy it is to quit on people because you can’t fix them after the 3rd try. Trust me I was almost ready to call a plumber and spend $$$ to get this thing fixed. I am learning my lesson that I can’t always rush to get something done. Some things, including my toilet, take lots of time to fix or be transformed.
The bigger issue which I should be screaming about to God is that my Anne got some strange type of infection in her finger that caused it to swell up and look like it was going to fall off. I was totally sympathetic, I got her flowers, a card and candy but really can’t relate because my finger isn’t throbbing with pain. At times I picture God looking at me and laughing because he doesn’t have to mess with infected fingers or leaky toilets or people that don’t listen. Yet, He is teaching me to be patient, persistent and stick with the plan that is His plan.
I know that I have one other toilet that I will have to attack in the next 6 months and most likely I have learned my lesson about what kit to by and how to reassemble it after I take it apart. As to whether I have learned the lessons of life for myself totally – no and definitely not for others. I had an early call from one of my mom’s who did a thank you I need help type of calls. She has 2 kids who have been part of our tutoring for the last 1.5 years and also has a son who has 2 little kids who all live with her. Some times I think that she doesn’t really care but this early call was a great reminder that what we are doing is important and does make a difference.
God thanks for leaky toilets that force me to me to be humbled and remember that I am dependent upon my Father and my wife for way more than I want to admit.
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