In reference to yesterday’s post on service, today I had the opportunity of doing some service (of course, why not) but it was quite unplanned.
A certain lady in our neighborhood needed help replacing her kitchen faucet. I’m not a plumber (and I was reminded why) but I have done this before, a few years ago, so I felt I could probably help. I gathered all the tools and went to work. As usual, I didn’t have all the right tools or accessories so I made a couple of trips to Lowe’s before the job was done. In fact, it’s still not done. Lowe’s closed earlier than I thought so I have to wait until 6am when they open to get the final parts. The project also grew to include some calking behind the sink and issues with the hot water heater.
So, my little service project became a lot bigger than expected, but that’s okay, because service is selfless sacrifice. If I had planned everything out, and it all happened according to plan, then I wouldn’t have sacrificed much, because it would have been what I expected. The fact that it went awry and required more of my time than expected required me to dig deeper and to give a little more, to be less selfish.
That’s when the real tests of your character come, when things happen that are unplanned. You have a valuable opportunity to excel as a human being and provide a higher level of service by how you choose to handle those unplanned situations.
PS – Did I mention that the neighborhood lady was my wife? Does my service now seem less noble? Why? We often have many extremely local opportunities to serve.
The Rex Blog 
3 replies on “Unplanned”
That’s one thing we spend money on–a plumber. When we don’t do it in the first place we usually end up doing it when it’s a bigger problem. 😉
Plumbing is a tough one. Technically it’s often quite simple, but it’s also one of those skills sets where experience really counts and sometimes the simplest task can get horribly time consuming….and messy. But then, knowing when to tackle something yourself and when to call an expert is one of those core conflicts of life, isn’t it?
Yep, a certain amount of calculated risk is worth the learning to me. Real learning costs something – time, effort, and the risk that something could go horribly wrong. Without those payments, you’re not getting a quality learning experience.
Thanks for the comment, Steve.
Maybe I’ll have 3 readers now.