Lamentations and Realizations

There are days when being single doesn't bother me a bit. Then there are days when being single is the pits. These days vary in their cause, but periodically they do rear their ugly head. Last night was one of those times.

One of the sweet families at my church had invited me over for dinner after work and I had a lovely time. I am so blessed to have a church family that truly is a family that watches out for each other - especially those of us flying solo. When I headed home around 10:30 or so, I was in the happiest of moods. Life is good, God is great, all is right with the world. Then I stepped into my house.

As I walked into my laundry room from the garage, it looked like someone had set off a dirt bomb laced with a water balloon in there. I immediately looked to see if any pipes had burst or if my water heater wasn't functional, but all was well in those areas. It appeared from first look that the sewer had backed up in the drain in my laundry room. Yuck. My first instinct was to cry. I hadn't been home all day and was ready to come home and go to bed. Before I got too far into diagnosing the problem, I decided to call my Dad. I'm so thankful for my Dad when these boy jobs pop up. Unfortunately he was asleep so my Stepmom walked me through the drill of things to check. We both decided I was safe from "Sewer Backup: The Sequel" during the night, so I told her I'd clean up the mess and she said Dad would check it out in the morning.

Three hours later I finally finished. House cleaning isn't on the top of my "fun things to do at midnight" list and cleaning up sewer muck tops the "things I abhor" list. As I plopped into bed at 3am, knowing I had to get up in about 3.5 hours or so, I wanted to just lament over my poor state. If I had a husband, he could have helped me clean up the mess that made my stomach turn. When it comes to house repair and maintenance, I stink at that, (pun intended) so maybe if I had a husband, even if he couldn't do the fixin', he could at least handle it....or be able to move the washer and dryer around easier so I could clean under them

Then, before I fell too far into the pity party, I was reminded (most likely by the Holy Spirit) of what I should be grateful for. If this had happened last week in the midst of company meetings, this situation would have added stress to an already busy week. Nothing was damaged (at least that I can tell) and the water and mucky yuck never made it passed the middle of the laundry room. And, my Dad is my hero and came down to my house this morning to check things out. After some investigation, he found out that my neighbor had a plugged up sewer yesterday but, in the words of the neighbor, "It finally broke loose" - yep...right into my laundry room. Nonetheless my Dad determined the problem to alleviate my worry and was able to move the washer and dryer completely to clean where I couldn't.

So many times we say "How good and faithful is our God" when things are going great. I sure did. But I was reminded after that episode to be quick to praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness in the midst of the muck of life.