Our water heater has served us so well this past 12 years. It has given us hot water without fail, even when our household number was as high as 8 people. So it came as no huge shock to me when we found it was not producing hot water a few weeks ago.
My wonderful handy husband quickly surmised that the element that lit the heater had gone out. It was a part that cost less than $10. But we quickly learned this wasn’t the entire problem. It needed the thermostat thing that let the heater know when to fire up and warm more water. Again, it was not an expensive part to replace. Yet it was a bit labor intensive. I am so grateful Rick saved us hundreds of dollars being able to fix the water heater himself.
What I haven’t told you yet, is that this whole situation took place over a two week period amidst a very chaotic schedule. Rick was able to light the water heater manually, so he could light it in the morning before he went to work. That way Mikki and I would have hot water for our morning showers. Then he’d light it when he got home so that he would have hot water for his nightly shower. We weren’t totally without hot water; it just wasn’t as readily available to us like we are used to.
This incident has been a discipline of learning to be so grateful for the most mundane of modern appliances, the water heater. We don’t think about it, but every day it serves us without fail. Never asking for anything in return… I thank God now, each morning, as I feel the hot water coming out of the spigot.
I can’t help but see a spiritual lesson in this. God is there for us day in and day out. He never fails us. It has me asking myself, “Can I ever be a servant to God and others that way?” I know it is a lofty standard to set for myself. However, I’d like to stretch myself to be more like a water heater, always available when called upon by The Master, than to be found cold when He opens an opportunity for me to show warmth and love.
