He expected Kansas to look like the postcards or the pictures from the sixth-grade geography textbook: miles of flat farmland with winter wheat waving in the wind. He didn’t expect to see these green hills, these fields of curving rows planted along the contour. He didn’t expect to find the lines of trees along the creeks or the miles of woods or the bluffs. About the last thing he thought he’d find out was that northeast Kansas looks this much like central Kentucky. But, Eli came anyway.

I’d asked my daughter and her apprentice plumber husband to come out last year and help restore the house’s waste and water systems to working condition. Of course, being the magnanimous and generous person that I am, I was also going to let them bring my grandson, too. That trip didn’t work out and so we’d lived here for these nine months without benefit of either guest bathroom being in working order. It wasn’t much of an ordeal, actually, but certainly not terribly convenient when we’ve had company. And, there was the matter of the un-installed whirlpool tub, daily holding out its promise of delightful relaxation and soothing therapy.

And now, thanks to Eli, that tub is considerably closer to fulfilling its promise. It seems possible that by Saturday night, we might actually be able to use it. We’re already using the new dishwasher that “we” installed yesterday.

Fact is, I could do all of this plumbing work by myself, taking it step by step, and slogging my way forward. Sooner or later, I’d get it done. But the stuff that I’d have to spend an hour or two figuring out, my son-in-law already knows how to do and does it better than I would. And there’s the added benefit of having Susan and Daniel out for a visit at the same time. Which, truth be told, might be a real big part of the benefit plan.

In some rough manner of comparison, this whole plumbing thing is a bit like the difference between trying to make our own way through this life and in allowing God to direct us. Instead of fussing and fumbling our way about, we have his leading. And then, on top, there’s the joy and comfort of having his Holy Spirit within us.

H. Arnett

6/3/11