I’m smiling to myself as I write tonight. You might even say I’m a little smug.
What’s that?
No, today wasn’t all that great a day. I didn’t get all my work done; I even sent someone the wrong product. I’ll deal with that some other time. I didn’t make any huge sales, and haven’t found a wonderful vintage guitar which will net me an enormous profit.
So, what is it that’s making me smile?
I’ll tell you. I fixed the kitchen faucet. Two days ago. Yep. Still smiling.
For the last year or more, the kitchen faucet at our house has leaked from the base if you moved the spout while the water was running. And I, being the handyman that I am, suggested to the Lovely Lady that she not move the spout while the water was running.
Problem solved.
Well, not exactly. It was a pain–for over a year. Then last week, it started leaking from the base whether you moved the spout or not. And I, being the handyman that I am, suggested that a plumber could replace the faucet for us. The Lovely Lady, long suffering spouse that she is, suggested that she didn’t want a new faucet and wondered aloud if I could effect a repair myself.
A visit to the local handyman center (no, they don’t sell handymen there, they just equip the bumbling ones such as myself) cost me a couple of dollars for a package of rubber o-rings. The net price of the one I needed was about twenty cents.
Sliding that rubber piece over the lower end of the spout, I put it back into place and tightened the connection. Turning the water on, I held my breath as I examined the chrome base of the faucet.
Voila! No leak! Gingerly, I moved the spout back and forth as the water poured forth. Still no leak! I’m pretty sure I did a little dance right there in the kitchen. I was (and am) ecstatic!
No knight errant, killing a dragon and saving the damsel in distress could have been more triumphant than I. My dragon may have only been a chrome plated faucet and the damsel in distress, my lovely bride of a number of years (I forget how many), but the dragon is slain and the maid is free of her prison!
“How silly!” I hear the naysayers already muttering. “Save your celebration for a real conquest.”
I’m going to suggest as politely as I can, that you may feel free to keep your opinions to yourself.
The little things bring immense pleasure. Our lives are a parade of little things, bombarding us one after another. We conquer them and we rejoice momentarily, preparing to face the next one. The Teacher understood this as He told of the woman who had lost one coin and turned her house upside down to find it. In the middle of the night, the house blazed with light as she swept the floor to retrieve that one little coin. Then, when she found it, she called her friends and neighbors to celebrate with her.
One coin! Silly? Not in the slightest!
Revel in the small successes! Delight in the unassuming conquests! I’m convinced that our lives will never be free of battles to be fought and won…some large, but most small. All are worthy of our full attention and all are worthy of our delight and celebration, when finished.
I’ve said many times that we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff, meaning simply that we need not fret and worry about the insignificant issues. That said, we still must deal with them, ticking off the minor victories one after the other.
I hope that you have a little something today that you are smiling to yourself about. You might even have called your best friend to let them in on it. Go you! Celebrate to your heart’s content.
For my part, I think I’ll head home now to run a little water in the kitchen sink again. Might even swing the spout around a time or two.
If you hear me humming Willie the Giant’s song from Mickey and the Beanstalk as I do it, take no notice.
“I’m a most amazing guy, a most amazing guy am I…Fe Fi Fo Fum, He Hi Ho Hum…”
Celebrate!
“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize that they were the big things.”
(Robert Brault~American writer and philosopher)
“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?”
(Matthew 18:12~NASB)
© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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