WHILE WE WERE RECENTLY CREATING

a more efficient writing and living space in my apartment, Stuart Hamblen’s beloved and year’s ago popular song lyrics to, “This Old House.”[1] came to my mind. The song is a clever metaphor on the aging human body nearing the end of its usefulness. The lyrics sent me back 30+ years to remodeling the house we called ‘home’ in California, one having neared the quarter-century mark. Not too old if you are running the “Bay-to-Breakers.“ Not old enough if you are running for President. But too old if the house was to serve as a family shelter for another 25 years.

 

FIRST, WE FOUND

a skilled young man to help with the work needed in the kitchen. Then we blinked. Twenty-four hours later he had turned our home into the “Little House on the Prairie.” We blinked again and began cooking over a small toaster (our electric campfire) in my study/office. Workers filled our home with their banter and their dust (not necessarily in that order). Pulling wire. Sawing boards. Brushing stain. On and on it went. It seemed like forever. Much of the process could be observed out in the open. But one of the most essential items remained largely unseen in the overall scheme of things.

 

It was the plumbing!

 

WHERE WOULD WE BE

without good plumbing? I’m old enough to remember living in a house without plumbing. It may have been America’s last unplumbed house. At least it felt that way to me. Whether one was thirsty or needed a restroom determined what part of the property you might be visiting.

 

Today, one thing is certain. There is no place in a modern house for leaky pipes. So attention had to be given this “take-for-granted“ mostly unseen and underestimated utility. That is if we wanted the rest of our home and family to function normally. It required investment, work and patience. Then, at long last we turned on the new Jenn-Air, all-the-while remembering the slow in-between transformation process having just taken place in our home.

 

And this leads me to this week’s spiritual analogy. Dixie would have started at ‘A’ with this simile and gone on a straight line to ‘Z’, arriving quickly; I, too, begin with ‘A’ and arrive at ‘Z’, but tend to meander along a more scenic mind-route. We would both, however, agree on the outcome.

 

WHAT WAS TRUE

in our home renovation is also true in our personal lives. There are no shortcuts to the development of character, even though we do not know what one’s character may be like until we see how well it actually works it’s way to the surface.

 

In John W. Gardner’s book, Excellence, he says “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”[2] That’s worth remembering.

 

The world quickly fills up with the bored and the mediocre, those who are unwilling to make the investment required for excellence. Good can quickly become an enemy of the best in our work, our leisure, and in our relationship with God.

 

WE MUST KNOW

not only our giftedness and skills, but cultivate them with absolute abandonment. Dare to take the chance. To step up to the challenge. To be bold. To be and give our best. And to check on the ‘leaky pipes’ containing love, joy, peace, etc.[3] If you do, you’ll find underneath the visible surface of your life a growing awareness of God’s presence. An inner life and personal philosophy that will ‘hold water,’ making your life happy, productive and long-lasting.

 

It doesn’t just happen. It takes time, effort and creative skill to deal with the ‘leaky pipes’ in our spiritual lives.

 

May Jesus keep us close.

 

[1] Words & Music by Stuart Hamblen, Copyright @1954 by Hamblen Music Co.

[2] Excellence by John W. Gardner, 1995, Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W.

[3] Galatians 5:23-23