When she said it would be a flat fee of $200.00 and $50.00 for every quarter hour, I realized I could replace the entire microwave for what it would cost to replace the socket from whence the overhead light bulb had snapped off.
Three years ago, I had blithely replaced a burned out surface bulb, not realizing I screwed the replacement in crookedly – a reality I didn’t appreciate until twisting it out – and the light bulb snapped from its firmly entrenched, albeit crooked position.
Now what – a repairman or electrician?
No.
Doug put on his thinking cap – went to a local hardware store – still privately owned – and got a proper pair of bent-nose pliers, and a dowel, sized to fit into the socket – to be used as a kind of leverage to coax out the catawampus socket. And yes, we knew enough to cut the power.
The angle of the light fixture was awkward – upside down and backwards. We had to use a battery lamp and a flashlight; we even employed a mirror to gauge our progress. It took thirty minutes, alternating pressure turning of the dowel, and pliers – and then I unscrewed broken socket.
Replacing the light and the glass shield – and a new screw that holds the shield in place, for I managed to DROP the original when I accidentally ignited the gas burner on my initial effort, we turned on the light, and we breathed a sigh of relief!
No wonder it would have cost so much!
Initial ineptitude, my screwing in a light bulb crooked, caused the hullabaloo – but surely the design flaw, an awkward placement of integral fixture bears some blame.
I tried living without that little light for a few days – but I needed that tiny bulb’s illumination! A little bit of light is as necessary a cooking tool as proper pots and pans, and ingredients. Light from the side of the stove isn’t as helpful as that little overhead filament bulb
Now that it is back radiating its pervasive glow, I see a few spots I missed wiping up after the last meal – and I see that we shed a bit of debris in our repair efforts. Good lighting does that.
Oddly enough, I feel pleased that as the days are growing shorter, that cooking surface light won’t be missing in action because of the cost and difficulty of fixing it. A dependable light is a real blessing– even from a tiny bulb
How about you, gentle reader? Do you sometimes feel like you are cooking in the dark? Are you accommodating some murky areas in your life, or heart or mind because fixing what you know is broken might be too expensive? Or, you don’t have a clue how to do it on your own?
Take time to think about your problems – ask for help. (Think and worry are different verbs, btw) So, too, ask is a unique verb that may require more action as well as only words.1
It also helps to work with a friend. *
And try to put into practice some of the suggestions others offer — getting stuff in proper working order is a good thing.
God can pick sense out of a confused prayer. ~Richard Sibbes
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~Søren Kierkegaard
Trust is letting go of needing to know all the details before you open your heart. ~Author Unknown
Footnotes
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Barbara Smith
Yep. ” ‘Think’ and ‘worry’ are two different verbs.” Amazing how entangled they become. I came away from your “this little light of mine” story with a different thought today. Yes, that little replacement light revealed small bits of debris left behind. Made me think that only a very little bit of time in the Word, when I’m hurried or disinterested or rebellious, can give the illumination I need to see the debris in my heart that is messing things up. Just a little time….even a little. Lord, help me to be faithful.