There are big changes coming for the Simpson household. If all goes as planned, we should have a new washer and dryer by the time you read this. They should be delivered on Wednesday afternoon.
It is part of a general upgrading Cyndi and I have done this summer. We’ve been replacing appliances that we’ve used for a very long time.
For instance, in June we bought a wide-screen flat-panel TV to replace the 15-year-old set we’ve had in our living room. We don’t actually watch much TV; we used to watch movies before Cyndi got a MacBook and now she has so much fun playing with it she can’t tear herself away. But when we do watch TV or a DVD movie, the new TV is wonderful. The old TV, which still works, and is looking for a home, is in our garage.
And Cyndi bought a new oven and stove, which came as a surprise to many friends since we don’t eat at home much. We have installed the oven, but not the stovetop, since we are waiting for the new concrete countertops Cyndi contracted for last spring but which haven’t been installed yet for some reason. The contractor quit returning Cyndi’s phone calls.
But the new oven works great. And it’s nice to have an actual clock and timer, since those features in our old oven stopped working sometime around 1986. The old oven, which doesn’t tell time but still heats up, is in our garage. The new stovetop is also in our garage, still packed in the delivery box, waiting on countertops.
And now, this week, the new washer and dryer are on the way.
We aren’t sure how long we’ve used the old washer and dryer, but Cyndi thinks it has been at least 17 years. The washer tub started leaking water awhile back, from near the top of the tub, so we stopped washing big full loads. Through the years the tub leaks have gradually worked their way down until now we wash only one or two pieces of clothing at a time to avoid big puddles on the floor. (That is, of course, if Cyndi is home, and I don’t want to get into trouble. If I’m home alone, I’ll wash five or six pieces at one time, because that’s just the sort of risk taker that I am.)
We bought a new, modern, front-loading washer and dryer set, which requires trained experts to set and balance. To get ready, we moved the old washer and dryer out into the garage after washing all the clothes we owned. We moved them out into the garage so Cyndi could scrub and scrape the 17-year layer of lint and grime and soap scum from the floor. We couldn’t let the delivery guys see that mess, oh no. If they knew how dirty our floors were, well, what would they think about us?
Now I know the reason Cyndi scrubbed the floor before the new washer and dryer were installed had more to do with the fact it might be another 17 years before we see that floor again, rather than attempting to hide the dirty secret recesses of our domestic lives. Still, we go to a lot of trouble to clean up our lives, don’t we?
Why do we wait so long to change old obsolete appliances, or old habits? Why do we fear changes that we know will add value to our lives. Why do we wait so long?
So I wrote the first part of this essay early in the week when Wednesday still looked like an open day for deliveries. But my schedule changed abruptly. On Wednesday I attended two funerals in Odessa, for two police officers killed in the line of duty. I missed the delivery appointment; now I expect the washer and dryer to be delivered Friday morning.
At the funerals I was moved at how we go to so much trouble to honor fallen heroes, how we take care of each other, how we don’t leave anyone behind.
Sitting by myself in a crowded church, twice, I thought about the changes I avoid, and wondered why change takes so long. It isn’t usually about the money so much as I don’t want to have to decide what to do next, or maybe I hope to avoid further disruption to my life. Yet, changes come anyway. For these two police officers, and their families, and their community, change came in an instant.
Putting off change is fruitless. The time to change is now. The time to step into the person God wants us to be is right now. Tomorrow may bring changes we can’t handle.
