The clock’s demise came once I’d begun to feel better and my eyes alighted on the wind-up alarm clock. A sudden brainwave: That clock needs fixing! It keeps losing time. . . Yeah, and the bell inside sounds dull, as though something’s blocking it? And so, I started the job that ended in disaster.
A brand new wind-up Westclox “Baby Ben” alarm soon took its place. Fifty years later in 2004, my sisters entrusted it to me following our Mom’s death – and it still works!
I’d win no prize for best fixer-upper and handyman. Even so, I’ve tackled various fix-it tasks around the numerous homes my Beloved and I have shared over almost half a century. My attempts haven’t always worked out well, but good advice from experienced folk has rescued quite a few projects.
Recently I was at it again. We have a small glass-mounted Seth Thomas clock bearing an “In Appreciation” plaque inscribed to us; a gift from a former congregation. It always lost time but had no control for increasing its pace. We fed it quality batteries, yet the thing would stop after only a few days. Lately my Beloved suggested we scrap it.
Reluctant to do that, and curious, I decided to give the clock one
more chance by opening it up. No harm done if I couldn’t make it work or get it
back together; it was otherwise doomed, anyway. However, my layman’s eye
couldn’t spot anything wrong with the innards; everything appeared pristine. I
couldn’t even see a speck of dust inside. To be sure though, I air-blew then reassembled
it.
My heart sank. Left on the bench was one small cylindrical pin,
three millimetres long by about one millimetre wide. I’d no idea where in the
clock that tiny piece belonged. With resignation I put batteries in and set the
hands to the time. That clock has kept perfect time ever since and is still going
– I just checked! Perhaps that piece had been an obstruction.
My boyhood inquisitiveness has never left me. A child’s
inquisitiveness must have suitable outlets for learning and creativity to
blossom. Of course, monitoring to ensure safety may be necessary, depending on
the activity. Even so, it often seems that life randomly casts many of its
best, if not risky, learning opportunities. Still, inquisitiveness can lead us
into trouble, as our human progenitors found out; the rest is history.  |
| Credit: Free Google Images |
Humpty Dumpty was all head. He sat high, perched on the wall, but then he had his great fall. For him there was no recovery, for “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.” Pride is an obstruction. Wisdom tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19 NIV).
Now is the time.
The pre-Easter Lenten season offers a spiritual space and time to
acknowledge our own prideful falls, our weakness and brokenness.
My hope and prayer is that you and I will experience more fully the
forgiveness and healing of our hearts and minds, and the wholeness God has secured
for us through our Lord Jesus’ sacrificial death and His blood shed for us on
the cross.
~~+~~
Peter is an author, inspirational columnist
and songwriter living in Southwestern Ontario. He enjoys singing and playing
sacred music and praise songs – especially for his friends in a number of residential
care facilities and in area congregations.
~ Raise Your Gaze ... Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart
~ Parables from the Pond
