I was not expecting to spend my Saturday like this……mopping up a river on the laundry room floor.
The washing machine leaked during the rinse cycle as the water drained. It had been doing this for a while now, and hubby had determined there is likely a clog in the drain pipe. He had poured some clog remover stuff down in the pipe in hopes of clearing the clog.
I started a load of laundry to see if the machine was working again. I went downstairs to check on the load to see a river flowing through the floor!!! What he failed to tell me was that he didn’t put drain hose back into the pipe where the water drained away. So, the day was interrupted to mop, sop, and vacuum the water and clean up the laundry room. There might have been was some annoyance, yelling, and a little bit of blaming for the drain hose not getting back into the proper place.
Rewind several weeks ago: This annoying leak during the rinse cycle had been going on for several weeks. I had been ignoring it and procrastinating doing anything about it. I mentioned it to hubby, and at the end of long days, he would keep forgetting about it too. I just kept on washing clothes and going about my business hoping that it would just turn out ok. That’s what we do sometimes, right? Just put it on the back burner and somehow it will work itself out….right?
Back to my interrupted Saturday….it occurred to me with mop, towels, and shop vac in hand that maybe….just maybe….. this river disaster wouldn’t have happened, or at the very least, wouldn’t have been as bad, if we had dealt with it when it first started happening.
Wait. There’s a lesson here. Pause for light bulb moment.
I had been so busy taking care of everyday life….work, dishes, homework, shopping, laundry, etc. I didn’t want to stop and take the time deal with a problem hidden deep within my basement. The problem was not constantly in front of me, and I could function fairly well through the rest of my life as long as I didn’t think about water leaking out of the washing machine.
But hold on…it was affecting my life. It was keeping me from getting the laundry completely done. The laundry would get backed up because we couldn’t wash as much. And, if anyone with even just a few kids knows, laundry can get backed up quickly. It causes me a lot of stress and a big weight hovering over me when we don’t have underwear or socks or pants. To see those hampers piled mountain just takes the wind from my sails. It does.
As with so many other real life examples, there’s a huge spiritual metaphor here. When there are problems in my spiritual basement, issues that I choose to ignore or not deal with, it’s eventually going result in some kind river or overflow or breakdown in my life. When what lies beneath is unforgiveness, hurts, unmet needs, sin, the past and so on, I might be able to carry on for a while. I might be able to keep going with some level of normalcy. But, eventually, it’s going to catch up with me, and I’m going to have to stop and take care of it.
What lies beneath in your basement pushed back to the corner, covered up, ignored? What issues hidden deep in your life (or your actual basement) are you letting go? You are going to have to deal with it in one way or the other- a slow trickle leak or a big river over flow??
~Amy