Alright….. hey y’all! Okay, here we go…………………………..
So, yesterday (I suppose you can call it yesterday) I was sleeping very soundly. Like, that sleep was so good, I could taste it (LOL). It was raining too, so that was an added bonus. Now, at about…. Idk…. 5:14 a.m. (shhhhh, I looked at my phone), I dreamed that I heard water in my apartment, like, a lot of water….. and remember, it was raining outside. Except, then, I realized that it wasn’t a dream and so I thought that maybe I was hearing water go through my upstairs neighbor’s pipes. Uhhhh, it was too loud for that; I then shot straight up in my bed after I realized that it was definitely IN MY HOUSE. I ran into the bathroom and, like I said, it was loud so I turned the light on and lo and behold, it was my toilet. Not just overflowing a little but water was gushing from under the lid
onto the floor. WATER WAS POURING FROM MY TOILET ONTO MY BATHROOM FLOOR. Now, I wasn’t sure what the heck was going on because I’d been asleep for about 6 hours at this point so the toilet hadn’t been used.
There was about an inch of water on the bathroom floor already, so I did what any professional water stopper would do….. yep….. I jumped in the tub, plunged the toilet and then leaned over behind it to shut the water off (yes, I know to turn the water valve off when the toilet is overflowing). And if you didn’t know the answer before I told you then you are definitely NOT a professional water stopper! Anyhoo….. once I FINALLY got the water turned off, I stared at the standing water, blinked REALLY HARD (I suppose I thought it would disappear), then I made the executive decision to GO BACK TO BED!
Yep, I sure did. I washed my hands (literally and figuratively) and I went to my room, shut my door, and climbed back into my bed. I threw the sheet and blanket over myself, closed my eyes, and WENT BACK TO SLEEP. Sound sleep. Peaceful sleep. GOOD SLEEP!
Now, here was my resolve, or reasoning for just going back to bed: 1. The water could wait until I was REALLY AWAKE. 2. I was still sleepy. 3. I couldn’t fix the toilet. 4. The apartment office didn’t open until 8 a.m. 5. I definitely couldn’t fix the toilet. 6. I wasn’t calling emergency maintenance when I could just sleep that three hours off and call later. 7. I was still very sleepy!
Some of you might argue that the water could spread into the hallway and maybe I should’ve tried cleaning it up, but that would have just caused me to wake up way too early (cause I was technically still asleep during this incident). You may even argue that I should have called emergency maintenance. The thing is, it was a matter that was out of my control. I couldn’t use the toilet, I didn’t know how to fix the toilet, and the water could wait until I got up. No need to stress about a toilet. No need to stress about MATTERS I COULDN’T CONTROL. I didn’t know what caused the issue or how to completely fix it. All I could do was to shut the water off and go to sleep.
My point (you know I have one!)….. So often in life, we get in situations that are so far beyond our control that we couldn’t reach them if we were paid to do so (some of your current situations….. folk payin y’all to solve the unsolvable). We stress and stress about the problems, but we are not the ones with the solutions. We gotta realize when we can and when we can’t! Losing sleep WILL NOT give us the skills or means to fix a problem that we were not created to fix. Stressing out will not cause your problems to go away, in fact, stress only leads to more problems! We must learn to ONLY DO WHAT WE CAN DO! We gotta learn our role in our situations. My role was obviously to sleep it off…LOL! Okay, no, but all I could do was shut off the water and mop the floor after everything was said and done (yes mop, cause no matter how clean, it was still toilet water).
My toilet…. I went to the office and put in a work order, maintenance came by with a part that I DID NOT HAVE and fixed the toilet that I COULD NOT FIX! Had I stayed up trying to figure that toilet out, y’all, I would have missed out on 3 hours of sleep, my prayer and reading time, and been tired and cranky throughout the day. The water…. by the time I got up and decided to grab towels and get to it, the water was gone. Now, I’m not sure if the water evaporated, if it drained into the floor, or if Jesus decided to sift it from my bathroom, but I didn’t worry about it. That’s another problem we sometimes have, we worry about the solution. Trying to figure out what actually happened to that 30 gallons of water on my floor would be an unnecessary feat.
I have heard people stress about help. “How are they gonna do it? How much will it cost? Well, they said they’d do it but I don’t know.” STOP IT! Let the answer be the answer. We must learn to let God be God in our lives and allow Him to make provision for us even and ESPECIALLY when we don’t understand how it can be so. So, I admonish you to GO BACK TO BED! And not lose any sleep, rest, meals, or brain cells over what you cannot control. Only do what you can do and say a polite yet stern “No.” to everything else.
“And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matthew 6:30, NLT)
“Be careful; for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)
Okay, y’all, speaking of going to bed….. let me go now. And guess what, as I type, the rain is pouring down….. outside…. not in my bathroom. LOL!!!
I pray God’s peace over your lives so that there is no room or place for stress. “And the peace of God , which passeth all understand, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
Love y’all (I really do!!!!!)
Get some sleep!
Ms. A.M.White
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