Haphazard Observations

Do you ever find yourself ankle deep in a mess and don’t really know exactly how or what got you there? My parents recently had a slow bathtub drain, nothing too serious. Not something you really worry about much just throw some Drano down, hope for the best. My son just spent the past day and a half in their crawl space investigating. Anyone who has had to do that knows how uncomfortable that is. It’s tiny and musty and has creepy crawlies in it. Uck. What he found was the tiniest leak in the pipe, that tiny leak had allowed just enough water to escape to feed a tree root. That root then followed the source and made its way inside and we found a root ball mess that was blocking the rest of the drain. Pretty normal scenario for this part of the country, not all that uncommon.

It got me thinking this morning, isn’t it interesting how one tiny crack can grow into such a mess? A tiny pinhole of a crack in a dark space was enough to allow that root to grow. Even if we had seen that tiny leak, we probably wouldn’t have thought much of it. Isn’t that true also of our lives? One tiny crack in our faith, or hope, or unforgiveness, we don’t think much of it. A small amount of negativity, anger, resentment…. It’s all part of life isnt it? Nothing to be concerned about? But, unattended, those things can allow roots of bitterness, hate, or hopelessness sprout. They will find their way to the source and grow. They create a knot of emotions and situations in your life until one day you look down and you are knee deep in a huge mess and have no real idea how or why you are there.

It is critical that we protect our source. You cannot prevent all cracks – leaks happen. Our emotions, life situations will cause cracks, it’s biblical. “In this life you will have tribulations.” (John 16:33) It is what we do with those situations that matters. Do we ignore it? “That’s so tiny, it doesn’t matter” or “That is buried way deep in my soul, in a dark place, there is no way it can grow.” Or do we recognize it for what it is and patch it. Notice a negative thought, then correct it. Recognize the unforgiveness you have towards someone and let it go. Acknowledge the feeling of hopelessness you feel and reach out to someone for help. I believe these are all ways that we can “stop the leaks” in our lives. It’s not always easy or fun, but isn’t it much better than having to crawl around in the dark damp underbelly of your life to dig out massive root balls that are wreaking havoc? Once that root ball is gone, there is such a free flow it’s awesome. A shower without ankle water! Yay! Same can be said in life. Once you release and let go of unforgiveness, or negativity your heart feels lighter, your day flows better. There is a sense of peace in your life again. So, here’s to us all carrying around some Flex Seal and as soon as you notice that pinhole leak, spray the hell outta it.