Contentment in the Midst of Chaos?

 

 





“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” *

Al and I were finishing breakfast when he leaned back in his chair and said with a smile, “We sure have had a lot of adventures, haven’t we?”  Then he added, “Well, this last one really turned our lives upside down!”

Several weeks ago, a chimney sweep service was contacted to find out why soot was building up on our white mantle, ceiling and underneath the pictures hanging on the walls. The workman who came didn’t find anything wrong with the gas log assembly or an issue with creosote in the chimney.

However, he did point out one significant oversight— when the gas log was installed, the chimney flue had never been completely opened, causing soot in the house. It looked like the living room and dining room would have to be repainted.

There were other things that needed to be done before painting, like cleaning the ducts and installing insulation in the walls. Al had contacted a company to coordinate all of the projects, which led to his remark at breakfast after workmen had been in and out of the house for several days. I didn’t think of the chaos in terms of an adventure though!

Before the duct cleaning service arrived, all of the registers had to be accessible, necessitating moving some of heavier furniture away from the walls. TJ, our dog, was dropped off at the kennel for the day so that he would be out of the way.  

After covering the registers throughout the house with tape and turning off the heat/cooling unit, the technician hooked up a huge hose from his truck to the furnace room and then proceeded to suck the dust and dirt out of every register in the house.

The debris went into several large vacuum bags in the back of the company truck, causing the bags to inflate. Was all of that dirt from us? I wondered. It was a shock!

  At the end of the job, the bags deflated, pushing the dirt down into barrels in the bottom of the truck. The service technician recommended deep cleaning the house afterwards, even though the registers had been covered, saying “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you that there would be some dust!” And there was!

Almost a week elapsed before workers came to put insulation in the outer walls of the house. Pictures had to be removed and heavy furniture again pushed out of the way. Al took TJ back to the kennel early that morning.

There wasn’t a room in the house where Al and I could sit for any length of time while the insulation was being done. Unfortunately, it was cold outside; so, I ended up in the basement while Al was able to stay in his office once the work had been finished there.

One of the men who had been in that business for thirty years informed us that there was absolutely no insulation in those walls. No wonder the house seemed drafty!  By the end of the day about 90 two-inch holes had been punched in the walls so that the insulation material could be blown in through a pressure hose!

“Well, maybe we could have polka-dots painted on all of the walls!” I told him.

“At least you have a sense of humor,” he said. “Most people get mad at me!”

Knowing that the painter was scheduled to begin painting the very next day helped me to overlook the mess. Victor, our painter, had previously helped us with other projects and was very competent.  By the time he was finished, the plastered holes had disappeared, the living room and dining room were freshly painted, new blinds hung in the bay window and a couple of other projects were completed too.

The Apostle Paul’s secret to being content in any situation by trusting in the Lord for strength certainly helped me in the midst of the chaos. Our lives, discombobulated for a time, will be soon be back to normal… at least until the next “adventure!” Question is, have we learned the secret of contentment?

* Philippians 4:12-13 NIV

                                       

                                                   

                                                   

 

 

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