Fixing Things

Joanne K. Hill

Copyright 2007, All rights reserved.         

            All four of my daughters are experienced in fixing things around the house. Except for painting and gardening, I, however, primarily relied on my husband. Since Ken died, I divided my time between Florida and Indiana. With two homes now, I relied heavily on my daughters to handle broken items. One day, however, I had trouble shutting the front screen door on the Florida lanai. Since neither daughter was available, I forced it shut, locked it and used the back door.

            Two days later, as I talked to Cindy in Indiana, I remembered the door and asked her what I might do. She laughed when she heard I was detouring around the house, laden with groceries, in fear that if I opened the door, I wouldn’t be able to shut it again.

            Quickly she told me what I might do.

            I heard the smiles in her voice as she patiently discussed three possible problems and the steps to rectify them. With each step, my fear grew. Easy for you, I thought.

            “Now, I’ll be home all day tomorrow, so if you have any problems, call me and I’ll walk you through,” she said.

            The next morning, every time I looked at the lanai door, I sighed. “Later,” I told myself.

            As I ate lunch, I noticed the instructions lying on the table. “Okay, Joanne, it’s time you faced the music. Can’t be that hard. And if you don’t do it today, you’ll have to wait another week before Cindy is available to help you.”

            I gathered the tools Cindy recommended: hammer, screwdriver, a block of wood, a sliver of wood for a shim, and checked to see if I had toothpicks. With all the possible tools and materials needed in place, I went to the door and gingerly opened it. Yup, there it was, hanging at a weird angle.

            I read my handwritten directions. Three times. First, I looked at all the screws in the door. Were any of them loose? Nope. Everything looked good. Next, I checked to see if the door was higher at one end, or one corner out of sync with the others. As I stood with the door held open, I could not see any problem. But when I let go, the door only went so far and would not shut.

            I read the instructions again. Examined the door from every angle. Open it looked fine. Frustrated, I sat on a chair inside the house and stared at the door. Finally, I said a simple little prayer, “Please God, help me see what the problem is.”

            The words had barely left my mind when I noticed, for the first time, the glide. On closer inspection, I saw that the little lock was not pushed all the way back, so the door could not close entirely. Simple. All I had to do was Stop, Look, Pray, and Listen.

            Why do we let fear stand in the way of trying something new?  Why do we turn simple jobs into huge undertakings because we think we can’t, when in truth, with God’s help we can?

            How often do we rely on others to do that which we could—and should—do for ourselves?

            We build confidence, one endeavor at a time. Overcoming the little fears gives us tools to deal with the big ones. When we learn how to solve the little problems, big ones become smaller and easier to handle.

Copyright 2007 by Joanne K. Hill