Sunday, November 8, 2009

Microwave Lesson


I did a dumb thing today. I didn’t think it was a dumb thing when I first began. But I knew within moments that it was …. well dumb.

The power has been going on and off the last couple of days due to the thunder storms. My electronics have not appreciated it. One of the casualties was my microwave. It would not accept a command and was stuck, stuck, stuck. I decided that it probably needed to be reset. Unfortunately since this is a very old model that was only possible by unplugging it. That sounds so easy, however there were a couple of complications. The first one is that the microwave is built into a cabinet. The second complication is that the microwave is very large and very, very heavy.

After considering my options, I decided that perhaps I could pull it out enough to snake my arm in behind it to unplug it. That turned out to not be the case. By the time I had pulled it out enough to get my arm behind it, it was coming out with or without me. That is when it first began to dawn on me that perhaps this was a dumb thing I was doing. I found very quickly that it was too big and too heavy for me to really control but I slowed it’s descent to keep it from crashing to the floor and somehow guided it onto the chair I had placed beneath it. When it finally settled on the chair I took a deep breath of relief. Well I did until I saw the two long parallel scratches I had put on the front of my cabinets.

But I tried to not get sidetracked and climbed up into the cabinet and reset the microwave. Then I stood there and looked at my problem. I had no way to get the microwave from the chair back into the cabinet. I even rocked it back and forth until I could get my hands underneath it and tried to lift it. I just could not do it.

So there I stood looking at that huge microwave sitting in the middle of my kitchen knowing that there was nothing I could do that would put that thing back where it belonged. I knew that I had no choice but to call for help. But I sooooo did not want to do it. I finally forced myself to go to the phone and call a friend. Who came up and very quickly lifted it back into the cabinet for me. He was more than happy to lend a hand to help out.

It makes me wonder why I struggled to call for help. I really did not want to do it. I did not like feeling so helpless for something that should have been so simple. I didn’t like admitting that I was not sufficient for the task. I have to wonder where that pride came from? because the reality is that pride was not helping me, it was hindering me from getting the help that I needed.

I guess it is a reminder for me that I cannot do it by myself. It is time to learn the wisdom of just being what I am. Because there will be other tasks that I cannot do in the days ahead. I hoping that it will make it easier to call for help next time.

I am a work in progress, I am learning. Slowly … but I am learning. Now I guess it is time to get the varnish out and fix the front of the cabinets. Why is learning such hard work?

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” 1 Timothy 4:15

Just Connie

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