Sidetracked

Do you have trouble keeping up with stuff?  I do.  Every time I work on something, I cannot keep up with the tools.  I remember one time when I worked in a machine shop looking for a pair of pliers.  I accused everyone one in the shop of hiding my pliers.  The only reason I did was that my co-workers were notorious for doing such things.  I looked almost the entire day, finding the pliers when I got into my truck to go home.  They were in my back pocket.  I felt a little foolish and had to apologize to my co-workers the next day.

Since that time, I try to put my tools back when I finish with them.  I clean them if they are dirty and repair them when needed.  It is frustrating when trying to find a tool that I know that I out it in a designated place and it is not there.  Usually when I find it, it is where I put it.  I just forgot I placed it there.

If you are like me, most of the time I must spend a day cleaning up my shed.  Things have a way of collecting just inside the door.  It seems they find their resting place there because those that deposited them there claim they do not know where they go or where I want them to go. 

Now I admit there are situations when time runs out and one has to place things in an area out of the way until there is time to place those things in their places.  When quizzed about what I did today, my answer is I cut the grass.  It does not take all day to cut the grass, but if you have to take most of an hour to pick up a variety of tools and other paraphernalia to locate the lawn mower, it slows the process.

Discovering the lawn front tire has a slow leak, I try to decide do I take the hand pump and fill the tire, or do I take a few extra minutes and run an extension cord to the air compressor.  Deciding to use the hand pump, I take a few minutes trying to locate it.  I find it, but the hose has dry-rotted, forcing me to cut it, making it shorter.  I spend enough time that it would have been quicker to run the extension cord and used the compressor. 

Once the lawn mower is outside and inspected, it is discovered that the blades need sharpening and it needs oil.  If the 5/8 wrench needed to remove the blades is not where it is supposed to be and it takes fifteen minutes to locate it, it slows the process.  I hope that the hand grinder and C-clamp are where it is supposed to be and after about fifteen to twenty minutes the sharp blades can help redeem the time lost trying to find tools.

I find the oil, but the funnel I need to put in the oil is not where it is supposed to be and there goes some of the time wasted that I gained from having sharp blades.  Not being able to find the funnel, I have to take time to find a used bottle or card stock material that can double for a funnel.  While looking for those I discover that the funnel is in a bucket that is filled with tools and stuff from another project.

Once the oil is okay, I discover that the mower needs gas.  Picking up the gas can, I realize it is empty.  A trip to the gas station eats up valuable time.  Once back, I need another funnel for the gas.  Gasoline is too expensive to waste!  I am in luck.  The gas funnel is where it is supposed to be.  I fill the mower with gas.  Now, I am ready to cut the grass, but discover that the battery cable is corroded and I must take time clean the cable.  Finally, I cut the grass.

This scenario is not confined to my shed.  I have trouble at the office.  I routinely must take time to clear my desk.  I get a box from Pam the secretary, put everything in the box, and piece by piece I file most of it in file 13.  I try to keep all my books, files, and documents in order where I can put my hands on them quickly if needed.

I have spent many moments trying to locate a book that I know it is where it is supposed to be.  Right now, I have no idea where my Bible, The Message by John Peterson, is.  It is not with the other Bibles.  I think I loaned it to someone, so I may have to buy another.  Guess what?  If I buy another, The Message will reappear.

My personality says that I want things to be in order.  I am not obsessed with it, but it sure makes cutting grass quicker and my office look neater.  I believe that having things in order is what God designed.  Hear what Isaiah 14:12-13 in The Message says,

 

Listen, Jacob. Listen, Israel—
    I’m the One who named you!
I’m the One.
    I got things started and, yes, I’ll wrap them up.
Earth is my work, handmade.
    And the skies—I made them, too, horizon to horizon.
When I speak, they’re on their feet, at attention.

 

I sure am glad that God does a better job of putting things in order than I do.  I cannot image God saying, “Where did I put that rib I borrowed from Adam?”