Lent Day 35: Stuff Breaks

So today I spent most of the day dealing with broken stuff. A toilet that won't flush, a dryer that won't dry, automatic bill pays that aren't going through. In the middle of dealing with all the immense frustration that is customer service, a friend called and asked me if I could drive her to an appointment. Grumpily I agreed and returned to my hold music.

Why does broken stuff infuriate us so much? The inconvenience of taking time to deal with people that we assume are not going to help us and the time to wait for the thing in question to be fixed. Really, in the scheme of life, it's not a big deal. But I can't think of anything that messes up your day more than when your computer breaks down and you spend 6 hours trying to recover some document you lost.

I didn't feel like I had time for my friend's appointment. In the midst of all my broken stuff. My responsibilities. Eddie was still napping and I braced myself for an epicly bad afternoon of him crying all the way to Pleasanton while thoughts about what to do about my broken dryer lingered in my mind, hoping I'd be back in time for the plumber.

Eddie woke up happy in the car. My friend and I talked,  then we laughed. For the whole errand, we laughed and laughed. I felt light and arrived home just as the plumber pulled up to the house. Toilet is temporarily fixed. (we need a new one).

I don't think it's possible to avoid the frustration that comes with life's unexpected break downs. We would hope that we could have larger perspective at such times. But, I think break-downs are one of those things that God joins us in our humanity rather than expecting us to reach towards the divine. And if we, however reluctantly, grumpily, can open ourselves to his presence, he can melt away the stress, frustration and anger and help us re-find a place of gratitude.