A drip

You don’t think that a tiny drip can make a difference.  Consider filling your swimming pool with a very slow drip, it seems impossible, a tireless or futile effort.  I have seen the difference a drip can make though and it can be a force to be reconned with if it is consistent, persistent in it’s efforts to make a differnece in the world, to make its precence known.

Two month’s ago our upstairs toilet began to run more than normal, I rarely pay attention to this toilet, our kids use it and if I am not in there to flush it because of the pungent smell or to clean the bathrooom I rarely enter the area.  Recent circumstances required my husband to utilize his usually vancant upstairs office which resulted in him visiting the kids bathroom more than usual and to notice the noise of the toilet running.  He put a sign on said toilet saying “do not flush” which my children took quite literally and did not stop the use of the toilet but just stopped the flushing…..which as you can imagine resulted in a pungent smell.Six month’s earlier I had replaced the inner working of the toilet with the help of YouTube so I couldn’t imagine what could cause the running of the toilet beyond a leak between the tank and they bowl, also via YouTube, I decided could easlily be fixed so I ordered the parts.
My husband has a time consuming job and each time he decided he could fix it I told him no, as it is right next to the bedrooom our 3 small children sleep in and directly above the nursery, I was not willing to wake a child so i decided I could do the repair in my free time during the day. I watched several videos and decided I was ready for the task at hand but after hours and blisters was only able to remove two of the three bolts holding the tank to the bowl, it seemed the bolt was cross threaded and there was no way for me to anchor the screw and gain leverage on the bolt at the same time, unwilling to admit defeat I employed my cousin to help with the task.  We assesed the situationand decided bolt cutters were our best option, so she cut the bolt while I held things steady and I decided to reassemble the toilet later.( This was like a 3 week process)

I put the toilet back together and felt so accomplished, it was working, I did not notice any water or drips, it would appear I had been very successful in my home repair.  Two months later after being gone on vacation for over ten days I notied a wet spot in the nursery, I simply assumed one of our children had spilled something and neglected to tell me, the next day the baby would not nap and I thought  it was simply vacation hangover, as I stood patting his back I noticed a splash hitting me,  darn that humidifier they never last long, but then I realized the humidifier was not on, I turned the light on to realize the splash was coming from the water runnning out of the ceiling fan.  This sent me in a full blown panic, water and electricy do not mix!  I snatched the baby and immediately went to turn off the water and the breaker to his room.  I had no idea what was happening I went upstairs and there was not a drop of water on the floor.  It was obvious there had been water, the tile was easily peeled up and as I ran my hand along the bottom of the tank I found the tiniest drip, a drip so small it was not puddling on the floor it was soaking straight in before the next drip hit.

It felt impossible that a drip so small and so slow in just a month’s time had soaked through the bathroom floor and was running out of the ceiling fan below…not dripping.. literally running out.  I am thankful  the damage done was minimal in repair scheme but the fact that a tiny unnoticable drip made such an impact was not lost on me.  It made me look around at what was dripping in my life, slowly soaking the world arouond me, I want it to be love and kindness and a whole lot of Jesus but sometimes it is grumbly and despairing, may I always be aware enough of tthe tiny drip so that it’s river through the hard wood is fruitful and not a creater of despair.

I will no longer be attempting at home toilet repair, most of you know I will attempt to fix just about anything but I do believe I will remove that from the list of things I am willing to YouTube.  Our bathroom floor is being replaced Saturday after a week plus of a monster blower drying the floor and ceiling, I am a little sad to see them go they have created an excellent sleeping ambience.  We have wonderful friends who are always willing to help not only remove my ceiling fan but rehang it once it was dry.  A big thanks to my brother and sister in law’s left over flooring the cost was significantly minimized so I will keep you up to date on the new look the kids bathroom will be getting haha.
Coming soon .. the time our house was invaded by jumping bugs….