Tearing Down the Walls

It is noisy in my house this morning! For the past two Saturdays our wonderful handyman, Tony, has been busy with all the little things we have let accumulate here at home. Today he is tearing out a section of wall in our bath area and replacing the rotted dry wall. Now, this was not exactly what I had in mind last week. You see, once there had been a built in soap dish in the wall. Well my son had his foot propped up there last year, shaving his calves, (laugh if you must, but he was a college decathlete who taped is legs often) and suddenly said soap dish was no longer on the wall, but in the tub! Well we patched it up with plastic and Duck Tape and made do for awhile. Our plan was to have Tony patch up that area with some spare tiles that we had. Those plans fled as Tony called us into the bathroom to show us the rot and tapped on various tiles to show how large of an area was really involved. This was not what we wanted to hear, and the urge to say never mind and just slap that makeshift bandaid back on and leave it was great. But that would only have delayed the inevitable day when then entire wall would give way. So we sucked in and tightened our checkbook and authorized the work. This started me thinking...how often do we slap a bandaid on a problem, not peeking at the festering mess beneath. Pretending it really isn't that bad until finally the entire wall gives way. I am guilty of this. Especially regarding health issues. Thinking, "I have this under control", until finally the crash comes. I spent months using prednisone off and on, so that I could go to work, do more at home, etc. Well, that was my bandaid, and once the bandaid was removed I discovered my back had actually deteriorated even further. Probably, in part, to not listening to what my pain was trying to tell me to begin with! How often do we do this in relationships as well? Try to slap on that bandaid instead of getting to the heart of the problem right away? And often pride is involved. We worry about what others will think. So, with that thought in mind, I know that when Tony has finished the wall and the tub is ready to use again, that a new feature will be there as well......a shower bench.....because this is one time pride will not come before the fall.