So, deal, alright?

Sometimes I wonder what I’m supposed to say on this page.  I wonder why I ‘quit’ blogging, even while knowing that it wasn’t a conscious choice.  I wonder why the pull is there while the words stay silent.  I wonder why three different times by three different people the value of my words has been affirmed in recent months.  I wonder what I could do to nurture what I am told is a gift.

I think it begins with the paragraph above and the willingness to give voice to those wonderings.  I think it begins with the habit of writing that perhaps I let fall by the wayside.  I think it begins with being vulnerable, something I have struggled with tremendously in the last few years.  I think it begins again by being willing to the Lord guide my words when thoughts come along.  So I will start today by telling the story of our washing machine and see where things go.

See, I’m waiting for the delivery of a new washing machine today.  And in the process of getting the area picked up enough for the delivery people to deliver I was gently reminded of the words “out with the old, in with the new”.  It’s a timely thought considering that 2018 is roughly 82 hours away and while I am ecstatic to have a washing machine that works again (4 people + a holiday + the flu = laundry mountain), I am also irritated.  You see, the old washer was new just 2 ½ years ago and in my book that isn’t old enough to need to be replaced.  But having paid a nice man $50 to tell me that it was dead I know that it’s true. 

Much of life is like this situation. 

Think about it. 

You are given good things and bad things, along with some just mediocre, so-so things.  You don’t walk around calling the good things bad because you know that they are good. 

Mediocre, so-so things are just that.  They just happen.  They aren’t good, they aren’t bad, they just are.

Then there are bad things.  And perhaps, I just landed on the purpose in this post. 

You don’t go around labeling bad things as good, because they are not good. 

A washing machine dying when you have recently replaced it is a bad thing.

Illness,

Sadness,

Brokenness,

Separation,

Those are all bad things.  We wouldn’t confuse them for good.

So here’s the thing:  Life gives us lots of things.  It’s important to respond the right way to the things.   All the things.

Recap: 

• Broken washer - bad thing.  I’m sad.  I didn’t expect to spend money to replace  it.
• Piles of laundry - mediocre thing.  It just happens and has to be dealt with.
• Washer delivery men - good thing, judging from laundry mountain.

{ Laundry Mountain for visual people. }

{ Or just people who like to laugh. }

{ Yes, that IS the couch on top. }

I could have made a choice to ignore the bad thing.  But then a mediocre thing would have become a bad thing and the bad thing would have become a really bad thing and how crabby would I be then?

Lesson to be learned:  Denying the bad thing doesn’t help to fix it. 

Whether your bad thing is a broken washing machine or a broken relationship or any other kind of broken thing it is important to know that ignoring it won't make it go away.  Renaming it won't fix it.  Denying it's existence won't make it go away.  The only way to deal with the bad stuff is to deal. 

So, deal, alright?