Marvin

 November 5, 2020

What a relief after four years, to not be continually bombarded with political propaganda. We move from election predictions to election results to election challenges, all in the space of a few days. You gotta love it! 

I read that stuff, but don’t pay it much mind or give it undue attention. William Wilberforce once commented on a fellow member of Parliament who had a mental breakdown; “Poor fellow; he never ceases from political ruminations.” Wilberforce went on to remark that had his friend engaged in regular Sabbath-keeping, “the strings would not have snapped.” I think we have a lot of people whose strings have snapped these days. So instead, tonight, I am thinking of, and thankful for our friend Marvin.

Marvin is an Amish friend who today began work on our ground floor laundry room. The foundation is dug, and the forms for the footer are in place. Hopefully tomorrow, we can have the footer poured in readiness for laying up block. He works fast, so I anticipate by this time next week, it will be weathertight. 

We’ve been waiting all summer for this project to begin. Like everything else, it got put on hold due to COVID. Work stopped in the spring, then people started getting stimulus checks while being laid off from work. They had both money and time; projects that had been placed on the back burner for lack of one or the other suddenly moved to the top of the home improvement priority list. Supply and demand kicked in at the same time as the lumber production and supply chain skidded to a halt. Marvin’s work was backed up, and we waited. Lumber is vastly more expensive than it was nine months ago, but God has blessed us with enough to pay the difference, and we are excited.

The strange thing for both Linda and myself is that we’re not accustomed to spending on ourselves; it took us quite awhile to decide on this addition even though we know it will pay off a few years down the road when we (mostly she) don’t want to be navigating our steep cellar stairs daily for laundry. 

It’s really quite simple. Most of life is lived close to home. The big issues certainly have an impact, but no matter how the political scene changes, we are going to keep loving each other, taking care of our home, and doing our best to serve the Lord in whatever way we can. A laundry room is pretty small stuff, but we are thankful for the molecules as well as the galaxies of life, and tonight we are thankful for Marvin.