The Hard Water Parable

This contraption may not seem particularly exciting to most people, and some may not even know what the heck this thing is... but to those living at our house, it's brought on lots of excitement and joy!

A few weeks ago, I noticed our bathtubs and sinks were getting a bit more yellow, a lot more quickly than usual. We live in the country where the water is very hard, with lots of iron and lime. The iron loves to paint everything it touches a brassy yellow, while the lime enjoys wreaking havoc throughout the entire plumbing system by slowly leaving its deposits on everything it touches.

I decided to checkout our old water softener, that honestly, has only half worked the past 10 years. I watched a few Youtube videos on this model, then began taking it apart to find the problem. I soon discovered there were many components crapped up with rust. Upon further investigation, there was a cog with a few flattened edges, which meant it was not turning any longer.

We decided because of the age of the softener, the cost to repair it, and the likelihood the repair may not last, we decided on a new unit. After researching the best units for hard water, we settled on one and ordered it. Upon its arrival, two days after its expected delivery date, we totally disassembled the old unit, and moved it out of the way. Upon setting up the new unit, we discovered plumbing pipes needed adjusted, additional hoses and fittings were needed to connect the unit and get it running. This also involved, two trips to the home improvement stores. But we finally got the water softener up and running. We were so excited!

As we were all experiencing our previous hard water being softened in all its glory, it reminded me of our experience in this world and with The Lord. Like the hard water, we are at times hardened by the trials and troubles of this world. As with the lime, we are left hardened and crusty; and like the iron, we are often left stained with scars and hurt. As our family experienced the softened water, we could each feel the smoothness of the water, where before it was rough. Our skin and hair felt and looked so much lighter, no longer with the hard water minerals clinging to them. The bathtubs and sinks no longer had the yellow/orange hue, as the bright white and shiny silvers shone through. It's almost as if a veil had been lifted!

All this reminded me of how, when we allow The Lord into our daily lives, He makes things softer, brighter and more comfortable. Maybe not always in a physical way, but in a spiritual way. There are times when we get busy (or we think we're too busy) to reach out to The Lord daily, and sometimes, like that hard water begins to gunk things up, the world begins to gunk up our lives. Then we get to that point where we feel this yuck of life getting all over us, when we decide to reach out to The Lord again, bringing Him back into our daily lives... to walk by our side. Then things feel cleaner, softer, smoother, and brighter as He guides and comforts us on our way.

So that's the "Hard Water Parable" from the Lavine house!

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