By: Jack Kale, Pastor Central Pensacola Beach
Last Wednesday, the husband-and-wife team of Navarre Pool Leak Detection spent three hours or so inspecting, discovering, and fixing our swimming pool that had dropped over a foot in a single night. It turned out to be the pool light connection. The next day, Jantz Family Plumbing came to the house and spent another three hours fixing various toilet and supply line leaks. Those two days cost us over $1,000, but at least we got the leaks fixed, and it was something I couldn’t do on my own.
Life is full of leaks. I’ve had tires with slow leaks around the valve stems. I’ve had drain pipes that have rusted out and gaskets that weren’t seated properly. I’ve had blown radiator hoses and cracked freon lines. Weather stripping, o-rings, old metal toothpaste tubes, paper coffee cups, fish tanks, and plenty of other things end up leaking. Teaching about leadership, it’s been said that vision leaks.
Sometimes we leak. When we cry, our lacrimal tear glands produce more tears than our tear ducts can handle. A slip of a knife, a prick of a thorn, or the poke of an IV all remind us that our skin can open and reveal a bloody leak. Our sinuses can overreact, and our noses will drip like a faucet. Thank heavens for Kleenex, Band-Aids, and antihistamines.
It’s usually a sign that something’s wrong when we notice a leak. I read about an art exhibit at the Guggenheim where a robotic machine was leaking hydraulic fluid, but the machine was built to scoop up leaking hydraulic fluid, representing a sad, perpetual cycle of mortality. It was titled “Can’t Help Myself.”
It reminds me of the childhood song “There’s a hole in the bucket.” The attempts to fix it run into problem after problem. Oftentimes, I think we are stuck in the same rhythm of trying to keep our few fingers in life’s dam, and we end up as drained as the things we are trying to fix.
Jesus understood how taxing patching life’s leaks could be. In His empathy, He directed His followers to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). It was like He was saying, “I know it’s tough and overwhelming to keep working on your life, making it better. Lean into me, and I will take the weight from your shoulders, and you will feel better.”
This week, I invite you to be attentive to life’s leaks. Don’t let them drain you of your joy, hope, and faith. Instead, call in some help. Lean into faithful friends who can help with the plumbing, the pool, life, and relationships. Life is going to give us some leaks, but it can also introduce us to people who know how to handle them. You are not alone in your struggle. You don’t have to fix it yourself. Make the call and get some help, and maybe one day, you can help someone else with their own leak.