Lessons

Beloved:

    I’ve a tiny great nephew who loves machines; diggers, backhoes, cranes, big trucks. He’d be in heaven at my house this week.  A crew spent all day yesterday searching for an underground path from the street to my house.  It only has to be about three inches in diameter.  Once they find it - they’ll bore a tunnel and pull a length of conduit that will eventually contain the fiber optic cable to deliver the gigabyte of data into my house for internet service.   

    About having real internet at home I figure I’m as excited as when my grandparents first saw electricity coming to their end of the county.  But yesterday didn’t go well.  The crew spent seven hours hovering a sonar device above my driveway and yard, inch by inch, looking for a clear path and constantly finding rock.  They tested two feet and four feet below the surface.  “How did a house even get built here?” they asked each other.  Soaked, filthy, exhausted, frustrated but still amazingly nice to me they gave up at 4:30.  They’ll be back this morning and in my garden, thinking that the path may be there given it was dug out already.  

    They remind me of heart surgeons -  on a bigger scale with lower stakes, yet taking their work just as seriously.  

    They remind me that every job contains unexpected problems and tasks that take a day instead of an hour.  My rocks are delaying my neighbors’ service which promises the crew more stress.  

     They remind me that four men having a terrible time in unpleasant weather can choose to be calm, patient, respectful, creative and kind.   

     They remind me that everywhere all the time people are working hard and doing their best at jobs we don’t see or understand. They are working faithfully through setbacks and poor conditions creating the infrastructure for our way of life.  

      Is it spiritual?  Absolutely.  It makes my soul bigger, more grateful and significantly more humble.  It offers a real time vision of life done patiently with forbearance in difficult circumstances.  These are lessons I cannot do without, be the teacher, a Christian mystic, or construction crew.  

       The sky is promising rain and the crew will be here soon.  Blessings upon them!  peace & prayers, pastor annette