Hummingbirds and Shower Drains

What is a secret to contentment?  One secret is to engage life with gratitude, grace and grit.  When the larger concerns of life threaten to overwhelm us, we can narrow our focus for a time and throw ourselves fully into whatever may be in front of us.

Gratitude

We spent half an hour watching the hummingbirds compete for dominance around our Oriole feeder. Here is the the new owner of that property.  This little one defends its territory with zeal, conviction and aggression.  The bird fears nothing of any size.

It was wonderful to give ourselves to that experience for a while and simply let the impact of the moments take us away.  We engaged with gratitude. 

Then I got curious.  Eastern Nebraska is on the western edge of the migratory routes for Ruby-throated hummingbirds.  It would appear that we have either an adult female or a juvenile male as our temporary guest.  And the stay will indeed be temporary, since our new tenants are headed for their winter digs on Mexico.  During our morning excursion to the local hardware store (see below), we got some hummingbird juice to dress up the oriole feeder and reward our new friends for their entertainment.

Grace and Grit

The shower drain in our basement apartment was clogged.  Before we called in a professional plumber, we explored the options for a DIY solution.  I don't like plumbing.  Never have.  Never will. The mess, the moisture, the slinking and the stinking are for people made of sterner stuff.  I don't begrudge plumbers the rates they charge.  They truly have a dirty job, and I am so grateful they do it.

On the other hand, this was perhaps a solvable problem.  I may not know much about plumbing.  I am not excited about it as a life path.  But I can learn.  I am teachable.  And the worst that could happen is that we had things opened up for the plumber to step in and take the credit.  I extended some grace to myself and got on with this part of life.  

I researched drain snakes for a bit.  I didn't know the difference between a toilet auger, a top snake and a mini-rooter.  Now I do.  The top snake was the right tool for the job.  We love our local Ace Hardware folks down around the corner.  They have a Cobra Power Snake for $15.00.  Off we went and got the newest weapon in our home-owning arsenal (http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1280069).  We hooked the snake to our cordless drill and started pulling chunks of liquifaceous hell out of that little hole.

It was good that we have fifteen feet of Cobra because we needed every inch.  I am happy to report that the drain now drains as a good drain should.  While we were at it, we cleaned the sink trap as well. Now we get that satisfying sucking sound as the water descends into the trap.

In Philippians four, verses eleven through thirteen, Paul describes this approach to life in Christian terms:

"Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

I am not sure about the precise role of Jesus in snaking a shower drain, but today I'm not worried about that.  I'm just waiting for the hummingbirds to come back.