Thanks to some of our handier members, a few of the things that haven’t worked so well at the church have been fixed. The sliding doors in the youth room now actually slide and can be closed completely. The light above the back interior door to the fellowship hall has not only been re-instated (there was just a hole where a light fixture used to be), but also has a motion detector so that never again will I or anyone else be fumbling with our keys in the dark.

To be honest, I never really noticed that these things were “broken.” The closet doors have been off-kilter since I arrived here five years ago (although they were fixed for a time being back in 2013), and I just got used to wrestling with them if I needed anything out of that closet. The same with the entrance to the fellowship hall. I walk through it often enough not to trip in the darkness on my way out and being able to unlock a door in the dark is a good skill to have anyway, right?

But now that these things have been fixed and even upgraded, I wonder why I hadn’t asked someone to take care of them ages ago. It’s such a treat to be able to open a closet door with only one hand. It’s so wonderfully surprising (still!) to have that light pop on every time I enter or exit the rear of the fellowship hall–especially when I’m the last one here at night.

It makes me wonder what we as a church have just gotten used to, not in our building, but in our faith lives. Maybe we know life would be better with a richer, fuller prayer life, but we’ve made do with a poorer, leaner one for so long, that we’ve decided that it’s good enough.  Perhaps we’ve become accustomed to things we “can’t do” as a church because we don’t have enough money or enough people and learn to live with what is rather than moving toward what could be.  So, what is it that could use fixing or an upgrade in your life?

There are many, many, many things in life that we cannot fix (which is often where our faith in Jesus kicks in), but what about the things we can, but just don’t? Because we’re too busy or because it might be hard or because we’ve decided it really doesn’t matter.  May the light that magically appears as you approach the back door of the fellowship hall and the easy-sliding closet doors in the youth room remind us all that some things are worth fixing and that a little effort can make a big difference.