How Is Your Shower Handle?
Our two-week-old boy is like the shower handle in our maternity ward room.
I remember the ole Lewis Grizzard articles where he would rant about hotel bathtub faucets being designed by engineers with the sole purpose of sending occupants to the insane asylum. Cleanliness is much farther from Godliness when one is in a strange shower faced with the prospect of being frozen or fried in the next few seconds looking at a type of faucet handle one has never seen before.
Luckily, he provided the solution that I have added to my life. One must stand outside the strange shower and turn it on while judging the results with one’s outstretched arm.
Our stay in the maternity ward was a fantastic experience filled with wonder and hope. The nurses were sweet as peaches from Charlie and we experienced no major medical setbacks. Then it was time to check out the shower in our room.
Only one handle, and this one handle was labeled “Hot, Warm, Cold.” You guessed it - I was outside the curtain with my arm stretched out. Sure enough, when the handle was turned to the section of the dial labeled “Hot” the water was cold and vice versa. In the section labeled “Warm” it was bearable, so thank you Lewis Grizzard.
When the handle was vertical, the water was off. When you put it in any other position, it was on -- period. Once you found the position for the temperature you liked, it didn’t budge. Thus the analogy for our little boy. If you position him in the bed, he is off. In any other position, he is eating. Once he finds a position in your arms he likes, he wants to be held forever and he doesn’t budge.
Pretty cute for a two-week-old, but what about you and me?
Seems there are lots of folks who assume a particular attitude and then don’t budge. If you leave them alone, they are “off” and they don’t do anything. If the weather is not perfect or problems arise, they are “on” and make sure everyone hears them. Once they find a position they feel they are right about, they won’t budge no matter how many friends and neighbors try to pull them out of the pit.
I feel this way when it comes to discussions of loyalty to my high school. My wife has that loyalty for her university. Some folks get to that point about politics, religion, or the Dallas Cowboys.
Let’s evaluate. We don’t have to be like that shower handle. There are actually skilled technicians (i. e., plumbers!) that can remove that old shower handle and put in a different style. We can better ourselves with flexibility where we can adjust the hot and cold separately no longer a prisoner of that one position, one outcome or style.
In your marriage, when was the last time you did something so totally off the wall for your mate that his or her jaw dropped?
For your parents, on what date did you last demonstrate you are flexible enough to run your life while you care for them?
Got kids? Do you mix praise with discipline to make the conditions perfect?
On the job, do co-workers consider you the ole stick-in-the-mud because you don’t know how to change to make the atmosphere better?
My wife just hollered at me. Think it’s time to give our boy his bath! Luckily, he’s not ready for shower handles of any kind - yet…
I remember the ole Lewis Grizzard articles where he would rant about hotel bathtub faucets being designed by engineers with the sole purpose of sending occupants to the insane asylum. Cleanliness is much farther from Godliness when one is in a strange shower faced with the prospect of being frozen or fried in the next few seconds looking at a type of faucet handle one has never seen before.
Luckily, he provided the solution that I have added to my life. One must stand outside the strange shower and turn it on while judging the results with one’s outstretched arm.
Our stay in the maternity ward was a fantastic experience filled with wonder and hope. The nurses were sweet as peaches from Charlie and we experienced no major medical setbacks. Then it was time to check out the shower in our room.
Only one handle, and this one handle was labeled “Hot, Warm, Cold.” You guessed it - I was outside the curtain with my arm stretched out. Sure enough, when the handle was turned to the section of the dial labeled “Hot” the water was cold and vice versa. In the section labeled “Warm” it was bearable, so thank you Lewis Grizzard.
When the handle was vertical, the water was off. When you put it in any other position, it was on -- period. Once you found the position for the temperature you liked, it didn’t budge. Thus the analogy for our little boy. If you position him in the bed, he is off. In any other position, he is eating. Once he finds a position in your arms he likes, he wants to be held forever and he doesn’t budge.
Pretty cute for a two-week-old, but what about you and me?
Seems there are lots of folks who assume a particular attitude and then don’t budge. If you leave them alone, they are “off” and they don’t do anything. If the weather is not perfect or problems arise, they are “on” and make sure everyone hears them. Once they find a position they feel they are right about, they won’t budge no matter how many friends and neighbors try to pull them out of the pit.
I feel this way when it comes to discussions of loyalty to my high school. My wife has that loyalty for her university. Some folks get to that point about politics, religion, or the Dallas Cowboys.
Let’s evaluate. We don’t have to be like that shower handle. There are actually skilled technicians (i. e., plumbers!) that can remove that old shower handle and put in a different style. We can better ourselves with flexibility where we can adjust the hot and cold separately no longer a prisoner of that one position, one outcome or style.
In your marriage, when was the last time you did something so totally off the wall for your mate that his or her jaw dropped?
For your parents, on what date did you last demonstrate you are flexible enough to run your life while you care for them?
Got kids? Do you mix praise with discipline to make the conditions perfect?
On the job, do co-workers consider you the ole stick-in-the-mud because you don’t know how to change to make the atmosphere better?
My wife just hollered at me. Think it’s time to give our boy his bath! Luckily, he’s not ready for shower handles of any kind - yet…