The classic pessimist-optimist battle of whether you see the glass half full or half empty often teeters on the little things throughout the day. When you consider the bigger picture, the little things are not really that bad. I know even though our problems may not be as large as someone else’s does not mean that they do not matter. It is after all still a problem.
The issue is not with the problem it is how we deal with that problem. Do you let that inconvenience throw you into a bad mood? Do you become snappy with the people you encounter during the day? Or bless out the cashier at the pharmacy because you really didn’t have that five minutes to wait?
I learned about life’s small problems early on. Let me start by saying I was blessed with an amazing family. My parents are still married, I was raised in a house that was full of love. Momma had a hot supper of the table every night. My daddy spent his time outside of work with us even though I knew he was exhausted from the hard labor job he worked every day.
To say the least I had an amazing childhood, but my teenage years were hard. We struggled financially for many years, as a teenager I took this hard. My parents always made a way to make sure we could participate in whatever we wanted to and had everything we need, but that was never easy. I would watch my momma balance the checkbook and stress over where the money would come from, but God had to be looking out for us because He al-ways made a way even if we did have to rob Peter to pay Paul as the saying goes.
For a while it seemed like bad thing after bad thing happened and my faith was tested time and time again. I would often get in a bad mood and complain only to hear my momma tell me that we really didn’t have it that bad. I would roll my eyes and wonder how she could think our situation wasn’t that bad.
About three years ago when I bought my mobile home, I realized just how small some of these problems were. When moving a trailer sometimes things can shift including plumbing. Shifted plumbing leaks. Those first few weeks I had more leaks than I care to talk about. Every time we would cut the water off to fix one problem when we cut the water back on something else would leak.
One Saturday, I was working with my brother to fix a kitchen sink leak that we had been fighting for a while. We got that leak all patched up, cut the water on and I was ecstatic, every leak was fixed. Then I heard the pouring water, the pipe behind my washing machine had now started to leak not the little drip leak, but a pouring, like someone turned on the shower head, leak.
I yelled to cut the water off and sat in the chair just staring at the puddle of water on my floor. When my brother made it back in the house I was in a full-blown fit of laughter, I laughed so hard tears were running down my cheeks. I finally stopped laughing and he asked me if I had lost my mind. It was then, right there in the middle of my flooded kitchen, that I realized these little inconveniences really don’t matter in the bigger picture.
My patience was tested, I was on the verge of aggravation, but staring at that puddle of water I realized at least I have pipes to leak. I laughed at the irony of the situation, I laughed at how silly I had acted and how I let this steal my joy. I believe to this day God used those pipes to wake me up and pull me out of a “feeling bad for myself” slump.
Next time you face the little inconveniences life throws at all of us don’t let it throw you into a bad mood that will affect not only your peace of mind, but the way you treat others. Laugh, cry, bless your own heart, face the problem, fix it and move on enjoying the life you have been given. It is, after all, a bad day not a bad life.
Contact Emily Jackson via email at ejackson@sctonline.net
