Drainage Problems

I can hear the trickling under my sink, like an indoor fountain.  I turn the faucet off and open the cabinet doors.   The five gallon bucket which now resides under the elbow of the drainage pipe is only half full.  Aw, it should be good for three or four more hand washings, I tell myself.  I close the cabinet doors and walk away.

This frustrating ritual has been going on ever since I tried to declog the bathroom sink on my own. 

Everything came to a head a few weeks ago.  Embarrassed when my overnight guests had to traipse out to the kitchen to brush their teeth because my bathroom sink drains so painfully slow, I decided that I must do something. 

First, of course, I stuck an old toothbrush down the drain and hoped to pull up a big wad of hair. Although disgusting things came up, apparently, more disgusting things lurk further down in the depths of the pipes. 

Someone suggested plunging the sink.  I had a vague recollection of trying that at an earlier time, but I gave it the good old college try anyway – to no avail of course. 

Certain that I could conquer this on my own; I bought a bottle of Drano.  Still, the water drained ever so slowly, leaving icky rings of grime around the perimeter of the sink.

I really didn’t want to bother my brother with this unpleasant job, and even more so, I didn’t want to pay a plumber; so last week, I asked my brother, “Hey, do you think I would be capable of snaking out my bathroom sink.” 

 “Hhhhh,” he sighed and then stared at me as he chewed on his lower lip.  (This is the way he thinks.)  “I guess you probably could,” he said after a minute of consideration.   “Tell you what, though.  I have this little grabby thing about two and a half feet long.  Take the pipes apart under the sink, and see if you can’t grab whatever the problem is with this.  If you can’t get it, I’ll come over next week and snake it out for you.”

Oh what promise I felt in my heart as I knelt on the tile floor and struggled with a wrench.  At last the pieces came apart, but although I fished and fished, nothing clog worthy came out.  Finally, I reassembled my sink. 

The sink drains quite quickly now, right into the bucket underneath.  I sort of feel like I’m stuck in one of those corny old television shows where the wife begs the husband to call the plumber, but instead he insists that he can fix the problem.  Mayhem ensues, and soon the bathroom is a foot deep in water.  Everyone laughs; oh it is so hysterically funny – except in this case, not so funny.  My bathroom isn’t flooded, but my sink is worse off than before I started. 

Sound a bit like your life – so certain you can fix it on your own?  So stubborn you won’t ask for help?   When everything fails, you ignore the problem while it continues to worsen? 

No matter what your condition, Jesus has the answer.   God sent Him, “to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and….to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18

Consider letting Jesus take over and fix your problems.

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