Sometimes I start to read into things that happen in my life in a way that seems somewhat absurd to the average person, and occasionally even me. It usually starts off as something funny or unique that happened in my day and later on as I reflect about it, I think… this has to have a deeper meaning. Who does that? Seriously, if you know anybody else who does that besides me, I think I should meet that person. Because I find myself doing that a lot and it seems ridiculous, even to me.
Anyway, moving on to my story of deep hidden meaning. Here it comes. Can you feel the suspense? If I were you I would have skipped this whole motivation section and just read on to the good part below.
So this morning started out as a normal morning. I woke up after my second alarm, rolled out of bed, got in the shower and washed my hair. I slapped a whole bunch of shampoo on my head and lathered my hair up real good. Usually, while my hair is soaking up the nutrients (or whatever is really in shampoo) I shave my legs if I have time. Turns out this morning, I did. But while I was taking my time shaving my legs, the shower head started sputtering. Now, back in the States, I would have probably thought that someone was playing a trick on me or maybe even that girl from The Ring ( have you seen that movie? I haven’t been the same since) found her way to the plumbing in my house. But since I live in Rwanda, I knew right away what it was. We were out of water. DUM Dum dummmm. That just felt like the right moment for the dums. The way the city water works here is… sometimes it doesn’t. There is a water gage in our yard that, if it’s spinning, we are receiving water from the city. If it’s not, then we are out of luck. We have a water tank about the size of a smart car that collects that water. Let’s just say, we haven’t been receiving water from the city in quite some time… long enough for us to run out of our smart car water. So there I was. Dripping with soap, halfway shaven, and already pondering how in the world I was going to rinse my hair clean of this mop of shampoo. I prayed to God that he would be kind and give me some water to allow me to finish washing my hair. Not long after that prayer, I yelled to my roommate to check the water pump who later returned with the news that the pump was on, but not running. I put on my robe, fully prepared to have to walk to school to use the water from my sink in my classroom to finish cleaning up for a work day. And then I heard it. The pump started running! I jumped back in the shower and was able to rinse my hair all the way through. Praise God! About 10 seconds after my hair was rinsed free of shampoo residue, the water went out again. Still as I’m typing to you 16 hours later, the water is still out. I honestly could care less if I get to shower again before I leave in less than 2 days for the States because I didn’t even think I’d get to finish my last shower, and yet, I did.
Now, there are many different ways I could go for an analogy to go along with this story. But the one that has been plaguing me has been that God cares. Cheesy maybe, but true. Let me point out something to you that my story presented that you may not have caught onto. My first response to my shower problem was to try to think of a way to solve the problem myself. My second resort was to ask God for his divine water giving power to help me out. My third action showed my lack of belief that God was actually going to help me in this soapy situation. My fourth action was to try and handle it myself. This all took place in about 3 minutes mind you. It didn’t take me long to get to the fourth action. The part about God caring comes in right after I decided the solution was up to me. It was in my control whether or not my hair stayed soapy the rest of the day, but it was not in my control whether or not the water came back on. This story could have been way different with a tale about me running in my robe to school and getting there and realizing I forgot my keys… That would have been entertaining, but much less fun for me to live out. When that water turned back on, it took me about a quarter of a second to receive that water for what it was- an act of mercy. Sometimes I think that when God gives us little moments like that, he craves for us to recognize the ways in which he cares for us. When I have water day after day, I don’t even think about the fact that it comes from God. I think… it’s city water so it come from the city. Duh. When the things I count on are given easily to me, God’s craving for recognition gets overlooked. But when I am without these things, all of a sudden, it’s easier to turn to God to replenish my supply, even though I am still probably going to search for a solution on my own. Regardless of my actions or faith, God still cares and shows us everyday how he cares, even when we don’t give him the recognition he deserves.
Thanks for taking a part in the journey of finding deeper meaning in seemingly meaningless happenings in my life.
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