water leak

I opened up my water bill and read some outrageous dollar amount that I now owe the water company. Immediately began checking the water meter, shutting off water valves, checking for leaks and realized I had a cracked pipe in the main line.

Uhm, can you say screwed? Hmm. Well, I did.

Like how screwed? Try a couple grand screwed.  About half way through the whole mess and ordeal of calling detection services and plumbers, I sat there staring out the window thinking… why do we want all this stuff anyway?

But after I got over the whole water-pay-thousands-to-fix-piping cost, a significant truth started to sink in; that being, it’s suppose to break down on us. In some ways, it was created to break down or become obsolete. I mean no matter how new or old your stuff is it’ll always fail you at some point. It was the stinging reminder of just how temporal all our worldly possessions are in life.

I think what’s tempering my angst is this reality check I had this last month where I stared at all the fun pics we took of Lillian throughout 2008. Some really awesome times. It was a great year with her. In reliving each moment through photos, I sort of realized that my mom, who died a few years ago, was in none of them.

Not one picture.

No opportunity to smile together; to share in some joyous occasion. No hugs. No funny expressions given to grandma. No silly outfits given to her to wear. No videos of them singing silly songs.  No history.

Nothing.

And I guess the word “nothing” sort of just drains the joy out of things. Kind of like what a leaky pipe will do to a home… where you just look at the past and realize time is slipping away and the more you stare at life the more you lose out on it.

Not that the world doesn’t already know this but it’s still true: Life is so unbelievably short. We just can’t worry so much about the stuff that breaks down on us. But that we have just a few moments to breathe the air that God gives us, walk to the local coffee shop and shake some hands of those you know that work there, to play and dance with your kid at the park, to invite a few friends over for dinner and share a bottle of wine, to worship, to pray, to sit and talk with your spouse, to cry and bear your soul with God or a good friend…these are the moments that don’t really break down and the kind that live on and on. It’s the kind of stuff that moves from nothing or empty to memorable and fulfilling.

Surging into 2009 with the heart to make every moment count; to make history that matters… along with a very expensive water bill.