How has a change in my attitude or perspective transformed a situation?

By Grace I’m Saved

Good Morning, A gentle rain has been falling here this morning. With all the severe thunderstorms, tornados wrapped in rain, potential flooding that has been sweeping across our country, I know we are blessed here in my little-sleepy-southern town to be experiencing a gentle-life-giving rain.

Thankfully, it was not raining late Sunday when my doorbell rang and I could here my neighbor calling my name frantically as I opened the door. She had been hearing water running and decided to investigate.

Another neighbor is on vacation and she had just discovered that water was pouring out of the water heater pipe on the side of the vacationing neighbor’s house. Our water heaters sit in a large bucket–type pan in the attic and she knew that something had happened to the other neighbor’s water heater. It had to be leaking or water wouldn’t be coming out of that pipe.

I called the vacationing neighbor but she said that no one had a key to her house. I got permission from her to have the city turn off the water to the house. I called the emergency utilities number and they promised to send someone out to stop the flow of water which we knew from experience (We live in an HOA and our own units have the same floor plan an utility hookups.) could be over-flowing onto the attic floor and finding its way into her bedroom closet.

While I made telephone calls, my neighbor was down on all fours clearing an overgrowth of grass away from the water main. I was concerned we would find a nest of spiders and she was lamenting the possibility of confronting a snake when we opened the lid. I realized that I was running around out there in my pajamas and she was kneeling on the ground in white pants. Have you ever tried to remove grass stains from white pants?

While we waited for the city utilities on-call person and his magic tool necessary to turn the water valve off, my neighbor, who was still frantically pulling grass away from the water-closet lid, told our other neighbor Johnnie who by then was on scene, “This is the most excitement Carol and I have had for months!”

Johnnie’s face said it all. These two broads have this under control. I think I’ll just go to the house. What else could he say?

I’ve been home from my sojourn in New Mexico for two months and with the exception of watching my resident Mourning Doves, the replanting of my herb and flower garden, and cleaning 5 months of cobwebs and dust from my home, not much has happened around here and I must admit, I’m easily bored.

Doing our best to help a neighbor gave us a sense of purpose but doing it together gave us a sense of belonging. The longer I live, the more I believe that the best definition for God is Grace. God is the glue. Sometimes, it’s sticky and messy. Sometimes, it’s warm and fuzzy but when it’s boring, it’s a red flag.

My dear-primitive-Baptist friend and neighbor, whose theology I do not share, often says profound things. She and I were in the moment on Sunday, dealing with the situation together. When I think about attempting to deal with that situation alone, I feel overwhelmed and had that been the case, I have no doubt, I would have done what needed doing but I would have fallen in a heap afterwards, totally exhausted. But working with my neighbor, sharing and caring for our vacationing neighbor, left me energized, left me thankful.

Since I returned home, I’ve been isolating myself. The doorbell is not always going to ring. I have to reach out. I have to build community. It’s the EGO that gets bored. It Edges God Out. It feels victimized and if we are lucky, it get’s angry enough to surrender to the flow of Grace. There is a lot of energy in anger and it can be fruitful when we own it and give it to God. By Grace I am saved.