Preventative Maintenance
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
John F. Kennedy
This summer marks the fifteenth year my husband and I have lived in our home. It seems like just yesterday we were moving in and finding a place for everything. Our adult children were just youngsters then, excited about their new rooms and big shady yard. As we carried in a steady stream of boxes, they ran in and out, claiming this space as their own. On that first day, I remember my husband Mike and I embracing in the middle of our living room, imagining the memories we would make here, so much of our family’s future stretching out in front of us.
In the years since, our lives have been full – of things we expected like homework, soccer practices, graduations and holiday dinners, but also other unimagined events like spring weddings and new careers. Safe within these walls, we have withstood heat, rain, ice storms, even a hurricane. We have looked out these windows to watch birds and squirrels and celebrated hundreds of sunrises and sunsets. Perhaps the most notable gift of this house is that, within its clean, filtered air, my lifelong, life-threatening asthma cleared; I became a healthy person able to follow my writing and speaking into the world – but that is a story for another time!
What I am focused on today is not the many memories but the parade of repairmen who have been visiting our fifteen-year-old house lately. It is a certainty of home ownership that if you live somewhere long enough, things will begin to need attention. We are there: the oven doesn’t like to broil, the tile needs to be caulked, our air conditioner parts are “obsolete,” the walls need a new coat of paint…and on it goes!
When I consider the list of repairs we need to do (and grimace at the costs), I know I can’t really complain. This house has held up pretty well. It raised my wonderful children and now welcomes them back home for occasional visits, all with few requirements and fewer complaints. That said, time takes its toll. We can’t expect this or any house to keep taking good care of us without our care in return.
I am struck by realizing that there is an important life lesson here, one I would do well not to miss:
Like houses, relationships require maintenance!
As the caretaker of my love for all the people who care for me as well as for my home, it might be time to take stock of how I am doing. Wanting to be a good steward of my devotion to friends and family, I have decided to ask myself a few maintenance questions:
· Are there relationships that I have neglected or let fall into disrepair?
· How am I doing as a spouse, parent, daughter, sister, church member, friend?
· Who needs to hear my appreciation or feel my support?
· Is it time to give forgiveness, patience and humility extra attention?
· Where do I need to reinvest my time and energy?
I’ll keep my answers to myself, but I will say that, after this little exercise, I have a new To Do List on my desk!
Houses, cars, health, families and lives – all things we know we need to take care of. Even so, most of us occasionally let ourselves get so sidetracked with our own endeavors that we forget the upkeep required to keep things in good working order.
What about you? Is it time to do a little upkeep on your commitments to those you love?
One thing is certain: Preventative Maintenance is always better than Expensive Repairs!
When We Take Care of Our Relationships, We Can Be a Blessing!
Join the InSpiritry Conversation about this post! How do you keep your relationships in good working order?
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July 20th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
You are right in what you say.At my age one realizes that “preventative” is by far the best way.But one also realizes that sometimes repair is not possible.Life’s circumstances too many times make repairs impossible.We make new relationships just as we add new wood to the house.The beauty returns but every once in awhile we remember how it once was and for just a moment we become wistful.Preventative maintenance makes for no regrets when one thinks of relationships and friendships and time.
July 26th, 2010 at 10:30 am
I also subscribe to the “fix it before it’s broke” philosophy. On a personal note, I tell my wife every day, “you are beautiful and loved eternally”. It has worked well for 25 years and I expect it will work for the next 25.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I look out the south window at a field of mid summer grass waiting for the newest calves to get lost in the unharvested hay. In the morning I will try and repair the barbed wire fence in response to their arrival. How many years of prevenative maintenance has this old farm seen. I know it has seen better days than i have lived, and that saddens me because I feel like i am the last line of defense in keeping the prevenative maintenance up. If grandad had stayed in Beaumont and made a life with mamaw, and had not come home when called upon how all of our lives would of been changed. The farm needed maintenance and grandad answered the call, now I hear the farm calling once again, can I practice prevenative maintenanceon it, should I. If not me then who. Without the farm what will become of my roots.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Bev, Homer and Tom – thanks for your heart-warming and poetic thoughts. I could each of you as inspirations in my life, and I know you inspire others!
August 11th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Air Conditioners are really necessary if you have allergic rhinitis and some other respiratory conditions *
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