A wise person will always
find a way.
Tanzanian Proverb
Problems,
problems everywhere and sometimes not a solution to see.
My grandfather could ‘rig things
up’— finding a method to make something we needed out of what was available in
the house or yard. Wire hangers, string and glue were miracle items. He’d come
up with a way to fix most things that were broken, even if he really didn’t
know a lot about it. I often watched him
in those moments—thoughtful and determined.
My
mother got this know-how from her father. In running her household she created
makeshift wheelbarrows or tools to get her hauling or yard work done. She’d
even try a few wiring jobs or faucet fixes— getting them in a condition she
could use for her purposes. My mother’s physical strength was also something to
behold. On visits to her house I’d
notice that furniture would sometimes be in a different location than before
and I wondered how it got from point A to B, knowing she was home alone. When
asked she’d say, “I moved it by doing…” explaining her strategy. As Voltaire,
the French philosopher stated, “No problem can stand the assault of sustained
thinking.” My mother would give every challenge her best effort.
If anyone needed items repaired,
she’d figure it out. I took broken pieces of luggage, flawed hemmed slacks and
household knickknacks to her to make right. She’d touch the object and look it
over. Then say, “Give me that thing, ay Lawd. Let me see here, Umph, Umph,
Umph. Maybe I can do something with it.”
And yet my mother and grandfather
both encountered situations that they alone couldn’t mend. Repair specialists
would be called in. Sometimes the thing
to be fixed wasn’t an object but a money or personal matter. Those would just
be what they were – another issue to play out at another time. Or there were
some problems my grandfather and mother decided to let go of or turned them
over to God to make a way.
I’ve tried my best to be a
problem solver—sometimes that’s good, others not. When my mother was sick with
leukemia, I hoped I could do something to make this situation better or go
away. Busying myself by talking to her medical team, researching her condition
and managing details in her home consumed me.
One day when I was in fixing mode my mother looked at me and said, “You can dot every i and cross every t, but
you can’t fix this.” I sat stupefied and scared – not wanting to face the
reality of what she said. My purposeful assault on her illness helped but would
not repair. The solutions of her life were in the Lord’s plan and hand.
I had to learn what my
grandfather and mother knew about some of this journey’s problems. My job was
to sit back and let the Lord work it out according to His will. That’s the best
way —always!
What do we know about problems?
- We will
have them
- Some
are relative
- They
travel together
- We have
to think about them
- Not all
of them can be solved
- Some
fix themselves
- Sometimes
they set up shop for a while
- Murphy’s
Law stands
- Some
are harder than others
- We need
help with some of them
- Pursue
options
- Consider
the root cause
- Know
when to turn them over to someone greater than ourselves
