Tag: being able to laugh at ourselves

Never give up!

A wizz carpenter!

I have been doing some DIY with my new electric screwdriver. To say that things have not gone well, would be an understatement. I have a number of tasks in my pending file. My assignment this week was to put the pole back in my wardrobe- it having fallen off, with my clothes down at the bottom.

With steely concentration, I went out and bought wardrobe pole brackets to fit to the shelf above, to make it extra secure. However there was a lip on the shelf, which meant they would not stay in place. I then made a second excursion to get a different style of bracket (who knew), but they were too narrow. I tried to file the pole down with my nailfile so they would fit, but after 20 min gave up! After a third adventure, I purchased a different size of bracket, and this fitted.

Dear reader, you may be thinking that the drama was now over, and all was right with the world. But no- it was not to be.

Now I had to fix the bracket to the wardrobe. I realised quickly that you had to put the pole in the bracket first, or it would not fit. I had charged the electric screwdriver, and was waving it skillfully in the air. But firstly it would not move. Then some one showed me that the screw head could go round in different ways. This seemed a redundant function. Why would I want the screw driver to turn the other way. Maybe in America they do it differently? Or maybe the magnetic pole in Australia causes screws to move the other way? It is only in the last hour I was enlightened that the screwdriver moves the opposite way to get the screws out.

The task has taken a long time. The angles involved in getting the brackets attached without dropping the pole have been pretty jaw dropping. It has been touch and go. The brackets are kind of attached, but I am worried that if I put any clothes on the pole it might collapse, and I’ll have to do it all again. So maybe I won’t hang anything up just yet…….

Try something new they say! It is a tad stressful, and boy do you need to persevere, to keep trying, to keep going. And in the end it might not work out.

Sometimes we persevere in our Christian faith, but there seem more steps back than forward, some missteps along the way, some detours. In Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 it says ‘ let us not become weary in doing good, for at the propoer time we will reap a harvest if we will not give up.’

A bit of carpentry is a silly example to make, but frustration, confusion and chaos all resulted from my efforts. When it is something more serious, navigating a complicated education system or sorting out medical support, the stakes are so much higher. Yet we are still called to persevere, and hopefully our efforts will one day be fruitful. We just need to keep on going.

Creator God, you created us to be original beings, to invent and make and build. Help us to do this well, and to be able to laugh and forgive ourselves  when we get it wrong. Lord Jesus, You are the Master Carpenter, able to shape wood into practical and beautiful objects, and people into loving channels of your peace and grace. Yet sometimes we resist You, and are defiant. May we be willing to become softer, more pliable, to be guided by your Holy Spirit, open to your leading and to live live lives fashioned by Your love, so we can reflect Your beauty. Hear our prayer we ask, for it is our heart’s desire, in your Son’s name. Amen

Getting around in a car park!

Navigating concrete posts

There are some things in life that should be straightforward, but are just not! Getting in and out car parks is one of them.

Recently I inadvertently ended up in an underground car park. It was just the nearest and most visually obvious place to park. However once I entered, the first challenges began to emerge. They were doing some building work in the car park, so part of it was closed off, and the entrance now comprised a  narrow route down involving a hairpin bend. The problem was once you were through the entrance, you were committed to going further. I had to reverse and realign a couple of times, helped by a cheerful man nearby who was stationed to help unsuspecting drivers struggling with the angles. It was just a bit stressful, to say the least! I ended up breathing in to get round some of the bends, which I know doesn’t make the car narrower, but psychologically seems to help.

Then when I got to the car park itself, the temporary route was against all the arrow signage, so it always appeared that I was going the wrong way. And there were hardly any parking spaces vacant, and the ones there were, were beside these enormous concrete pillars that take up half the space. You are trying to get into the space, without crashing into the pillar, or having the back of the car out in the exit lane, and not to be squint. It was like torture. I breathed deeply, took it slowly, and eventually parked, carried out my chores, and breathed an enormous sigh of relief when I eventually  made it out into the light with myself and the car in one piece.

In comparison with the trial and tribulations that people face in life, this was a trivial problem. But it did remind me that God cares not just for the big dilemmas and heartbreaks, but also about the smaller details of our lives, and we can trust Him for it all.

I love psalm 31 where it says ‘ I trust in You God. I say ‘ You are my God, my times are in your hands’. Whatever is happening in our lives, good or bad, big or small, we can entrust them all.into the hands of God. What a relief. Hallelujah!

Gracious God, thank you that You are our Guide and Helper, in the big challenges in life, and in the small frustrations. Lord Jesus, we can trust in Your unfailing love, even when we are grumpy and out of sorts, when we are scared or overwhelmed. Thankyou. Help us to trust You in every moment of our lives. Holy Spirit, give us calmness and courage to do things that are take us out of our comfort zone, and to keep on going. In Jesus name, Amen