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Are You a Dripping Faucet?

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Ever hear a dripping faucet without stop? Especially dripping into a bucket.
Annoying. Non-stop.
Chinese torture.
 
Proverbs 27:15  says, "A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike." 

A contentious person is always looking for an argument.
Any word becomes a battle.
Makes communication a constant fight.

I was reminded of that when my faucets dripped in orchestrated time throughout the house.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Without stopping. All day. All night.
That drop kept coming.

Do you ever dwell on a problem that isn’t yours to fix?
Maybe it’s what your grown kids are doing, or what someone from church is doing.
I was grumbling and complaining a lot about Oklahoma. Not outloud of course, but to myself.
They do things so differently than the rest of the world. 
Cold temperatures brought ice to the roads. 
Because they don’t make and upkeep roads that drain properly, water sits on the roads in the summer.
So naturally, when temperatures fall, that water turns to ice.
Which makes icy roads.
When an unusual amount of snow fell on top of that ice, the town shut down. 
They had no way to spread salt on the roads, nor clear them.

Several days after the storm hit, they began using skidsteerers but only on the main roads.
Our trash was not picked up for three weeks.
The trash trucks may be able to run, but the dump is on a hill and closed.
Church was cancelled.
My husband stayed home from work for a week. (He lives 5 minutes from the hospital.)

Throughout all of this, my faucet dripped. 
A friend advised us to open our cupboard doors to warm our pipes under the sink. And to keep it dripping when it started warming up.
That’s when the city’s water pipes burst. Not just one but many.
Their pipes are only buried two feet (not six) and meters and control pipes at surface level are not insulated.
Parts of town had no water, the hospital included.
These domino effects kept a town shutdown.

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
My irritation grew. 
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

I could feel the contentious woman surfacing.
Why?
I focused on what I couldn’t do—fix the city’s problems.

God had to remind me of my attitude.
When I re-focused on what I could do—keep the faucets dripping, gather back-up water, prepare for power outage, and keep unpacking—I did not become part of the dripping problem.

Maybe you are trying to fix our country's problems. 
Maybe you are just trying to fix your grown children's issues.
Or your husbands.
Maybe the dripping faucet is your reminder too that these aren't your problems to solve.

No one controls all their surroundings, but they do control how they respond to them.
That makes all the difference between being a contentious woman or a thankful one.

Problems will still be there.
But your response can instigate a battle or give God praise.
You choose.


Displaying 1 comment

It's all about attitude. We cannot excuse ourselves with being tired, stressed, etc., etc. What is in our hearts will come out and we need God every day to change us. If this sounds like I've had experience with a bad attitude, it's because I have. And though I think I'm doing better, it still sneaks in and I have to once again take it to the Lord. We are all sinners and our tongues are our worst weapon. Love your articles, Sonya.

I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
               Sonya Contreras

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Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.

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