Brenda’s Blog – June 24, 2014
“Tower View Baptist Church” read the sign. As I drove along the highway all I could see was the over-sized water tower which dwarfed the small, wooden building sitting in its shadow. The sign grabbed my attention and I paused to study the situation.
Then I started laughing. Years ago a dear friend told me, “If you can’t fix it, feature it!” Some very wise people in the congregation had a marvelous sense of humor. They couldn’t move the tower, but they could make lemonade out of lemons.
There have been water towers looming over me in my life. I did nothing but complain. How much more productive to laugh! Laughter is life’s lubricant. When I get too serious, the gears create friction and make a grating sound in my soul.
A commercial running on TV features a disabled veteran who has only one hand. Rather than wallowing in grief and loss, he becomes the star in a house cleaning tools ad. He features what he couldn’t fix. Joni Eareckson Tada’s injuries as a teenager left her a quadriplegic. She refused to be overcome and now leads an international ministry serving other disabled children and adults.
My Dad used to tell me, “Always distinguish between a problem and a fact of life. A problem is something you can solve, so work on it; a fact of life is a given so don’t waste time on answers, just accept it.”
When life throws water towers at me, I hope to remember the Tower View Baptist Church, make myself a very large sign, and smile.