Life Lessons Through a Pipe

For the past few months I have started a deep soul searching. Trying to discover my own identity after a marriage breakup is not the most enjoyable thing to do, but I figured if I wanted to be a better version of myself I would have to work hard to deal with the issues that were uncovered by digging deep.

Anyone who is close enough to me knows that I have had a problem with leakage in my house boiler. It’s been months since my landlord came to fix it and a new issue arose. A few days ago I noticed the leak was back and this time quite bad. I called my landlord and he came very fast. After checking, he discovered the leak was coming from the attic, and again, anyone who knows me, knows that I always ask questions. I asked how come a pipe in an attic would leak out of the blue? Could something specific have damaged it? His answer was simple, but in my view it was so profound, he said, “ The problem was there from the beginning, the person who installed it, bought the cheapest pipe, normally it should have lasted a lifetime, but trying to do a quick, cheap job the person fixed the problem at first not thinking of the future.”

I thought about that for the entire day, how deep is that? We all do this at some stage in our lives, we start relationships, friendships, businesses and the list goes on, sometimes because of our own insecurities we jump into something that at first seem attractive and good for us, we make ourselves believe the issues aren’t there. I’m sure the person who bought that pipe didn’t think there was an issue with it, it looked good and cheap, perfect combination right? I have gone for cheap stuff many times and ended up regretting it big time!

My landlord decided to replace the entire pipe, he tried to mend it many times just to start leaking in a different spot. Wow!!! To me that was another teaching!

Many times I try to mend my wounds by patching it together but as soon as it is touched, the issues are back and sometimes worse than it was when it was patched in the first place. Certain things need a real fixing and sometimes a total replacement will be needed.

Now, had my landlord done some well needed house maintenance during all these years that he has owned this house, he would probably have found out about the problem and fixed it before it damaged other parts of the house. I think that is what we sometimes do with our relationships, because everything seems to be going well, we take it for granted and forget to do a check up now and again to make sure all parts of it are running smoothly. Life gives us warning signs, then we patch it and keep going, finding out later that it was never fixed and it actually caused a problem somewhere else.

I realise now that I’m a broken human being, and it isn’t because someone broke me, I can’t blame that on my marriage break up, that was just another leak in my life, there are things deep within me that I need to address before it becomes so big that it will burst causing a worse damage. Being aware of my weaknesses and brokenness is the beginning of fixing or replacing the part that is damaged.

Trying to do a maintenance check-up on myself is painful but so far has helped me identify a lot of little leakages that can be fixed and big ones that need attention and time, but the day I can label it “ Fully Serviced” it will be such a good feeling knowing I will be a better human being, Christian, Mother and friend. For all that to happen takes time and hard work, no more procrastination, no more sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

I think I’m finally in a place where God can work on me, being aware of my own issues, and admitting that it is all too much to process on my own, opens up a door for him to come and help me to sort it all out and make me whole again.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. -Psalm 51:17

He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. -Psalm 147:3

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. -Psalm 34:18