At Least The Water Is Hot!

There is never a good time for bad things to happen. But they still do. We would prefer to not have to suffer with bad things. But we do and we will. That’s life. Are there lessons we can draw concerning our singleness from these “bad things”?

This past week, my water heater has not been working properly. So for a while, I have had to heat water in the microwave to use for washing up. It took me some time to get to the “reset” button because of some shelving between the laundry room and water heater. But Saturday, I had some good news. I finally got some hot water. But a couple of hours after that good news, my water heater started spraying water all over the place. And it has been watering my carpeted floor for the past eighteen hours and counting. What does all of this have to do with being single?

Lesson 1 - In our singleness journey, things will go wrong. Romantic partners will break up with us. Friends will say inappropriate things. The boss will go on a rampage. The person at the drive-through will not get your order right the first, second AND third time. These things happen. Christian singles should not let the fact that bad things happen mess up their attitude. God is still in charge!

Lesson 2 - The things that go wrong are bad for us, but they could be a lot worse. We still have our health, a place to stay, cars to drive, friends to call, money in the bank and the list goes on. Also, there are people who are dealing with much bigger problems than we face. Christian singles should not lose sight of the fact that others are suffering and we should do what we can to help them, even in the midst of our bad days. God is still calling us to make a positive difference!

Lesson 3 - When bad things happen, we need to be creative. Faced with the prospect of having to empty buckets every hour or so, I rigged a system that allows the water to flow into 2 containers at the same time thereby extending the time I would be tied to my house to empty them. That means I can go to church today and I can go to work tomorrow. Christian singles should be creative when bad things happen to them, which will allow them to keep moving forward in the directions God would have us to go. God is giving us the capacities to deal with life’s challenges and still get on with those things we need to do.

Three lessons in one post! What significance does the number 3 have to Christians? There are perhaps more lessons to be drawn and the point of this posting is not to dwell on my water heater problems. Rather, the point is we should take all of our situations, good and bad and get a glimpse of what God would have us to learn. Each day, we have the opportunity to grow a little wiser, a little more creative and a little more patient. It is up to us to take proper advantage of these opportunities and become more like the person God has designed us to be. Getting back to my situation, as I sit here listening to the water fill up the two containers, I can be thankful that at least the water is hot!