Water, Water, Everywhere

By Karen O’Connor –

“I’m no plumber but I know a leak when I see one,” said Wanda. “Last week while putting away clean towels in the cabinet under the bathroom sink I noticed a puddle of water right in the middle of two stacks of towels. I turned on the faucet, then looked under the sink again, and sure enough, drip, drip, drip.”

Wanda flopped on the floor and sulked. This was one more problem in a day already filled to the brim. She imagined an exorbitant plumbing bill and days without access to the sink and, well what else could go wrong just before company arrived for a weeklong stay?

“Fred,” she called to her husband who was playing Chess with a friend in the family room. “Can you fix this?” she asked, pointing to the wet area, “or should I call a plumber?”

“I’ll take a look,” he said, then waved her off after examining the damage. “First I have to find my tools, then remove the pipe, do a little fiddling here and there, you know––so it might be some time before I get to it.”

Wanda let out a big sigh. She knew that could mean days or even weeks. Fred was not the handiest of men, though he liked to think he was. So she placed an empty pot on the cabinet floor to catch the water. “At least the towels will stay dry,” she murmured.

A few days later Wanda ran another load of wash. Later while stacking the fresh towels under the sink, she noticed the pot was about to overflow with the collected water. Thank heaven she looked!

Feeling annoyed that her husband had not repaired the damage, and frustrated that he had not at least emptied the pot every few hours she let out a few choice words. “You would think. . . he would at least. . . check it.”

Oh well . . . what else is new? She bent over and carefully removed the pot. One false move and the water would have soaked the entire room. She was grateful for steady hands.

“I’ll empty this thing right now,” she said to herself. “No sense in taking it all the way to the kitchen. I’ll dump it into the sink . . . no, not the sink,” she yelled, catching herself too late, as the water poured right back into the cabinet and spilled onto the floor!

“From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you” (Job 5:19).