Do you ever consider things about yourself? For instance, I have always considered myself to be creative and funny. I like to think I am correct about the both of them. But there was one thing that I had wrong about myself. I thought I had strong upper arms. I was wrong.
Not too long after Tim and I were married, we bought a ceiling fan for our bedroom. I agreed to help him install it.
No big deal, right?
As we stood on the bed, Tim took down the old light and put in the new hardware. Then he handed me the ceiling fan section with the motor and asked me to hold it up high while he worked on the wires. It took him a lot longer than he said it would. The more I held up the motor section, the heavier it became. For some reason, he was struggling to get the wires in the way they needed to go.
I kept telling him, “You need to hurry!”
To which he always replied, “It won’t be much longer.”
Soon, my arms began to shake as the pain raced down my arms. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold up this puppy!” I warned.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he took the section from my hands and slid it into place. Then he said: “What’s wrong with you? It wasn’t that heavy.” Let’s just say I didn’t appreciate that response too well.
Recently, we discovered our back deck needs some repair. It was already built when we bought the house. Anyway, we bought new deck flooring, but that required us to put in more floor joists under the deck. And yes, I struggled holding the heavy wooden joists up while Tim got them into place. Finally, we got smart and figured a way to use the jack to hold the beam until Tim fastened it on the side. We were able to put up a few that way, but one didn’t go so well.
Tim was standing on a small ladder and working on moving a joist upward. Suddenly, he spun around and leaned back. That’s when the wooden joist came down and bumped him on the top of the head. It continued on down the side of his head and slammed into his shoulder with a loud, “Whomp!”
He knew it was going to fall, but didn’t have time to warn me to move, so he moved to let it fall on top of him instead of hitting me.
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Philippians 2:3 (KJV)
Tim’s selfless action displayed his esteem for me over his own well-being. What if everybody did that for each other? How much different would our world be today? Always remember, even little things done for others can make a huge difference.
Now when we start working on the deck, I say a prayer first. In my mind, I envision Jesus shaking his head and smiling. “I know how you two are. You all need all the prayers you can get.”
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.