I had watched the monsoon-like rain all day on Wednesday. Still, I was surprised to open the laundry room door to discover a slowly but steadily growing puddle in our basement.
I dried it up but it kept coming. I couldn’t find its source.
Clearing away the accumulated lint and gunk that collects on a laundry room floor, I found a slight but consistently flowing stream gurgling forth from a small hole in the wall.
The plumber said, “Call a contractor.”
The contractor said, “That’s a tough cookie. I’ll have to see it after it dries.”
I ran to Home Depot to purchase a utility pump. Aisle Four (plumbing) had become a support group for weary basement warriors. The pump didn’t work in the end either.
I had called everyone, thought of every trick, and tried every strategy I knew. The water just kept coming. So I surrendered and spent the next six hours hand-wringing towels into waste baskets and dumping them outside.
After I got over all the possible resentments (the guy I bought the home from, the plumber, the contractor, and a couple of other personalities) I couldn’t help but be awed by the water and its unstoppable flow to the bottom of people’s homes. Water always finds the low spot.
I’ve learned that Torah wisdom is like water. That means that when we humble ourselves, wisdom finds us. It’s just a law of reality. Now, humility doesn’t mean “I’m nothing.” It means that I’m something, even something special. But as great my something is, it’s so small relative to the wondrous, infinite, awesome source that makes my and everyone else’s something special to begin with.
May we merit to trust in the law of the low places: wisdom, like water, will always find the humble.
Shabbat Shalom,
Henry Harris
I dried it up but it kept coming. I couldn’t find its source.
Clearing away the accumulated lint and gunk that collects on a laundry room floor, I found a slight but consistently flowing stream gurgling forth from a small hole in the wall.
The plumber said, “Call a contractor.”
The contractor said, “That’s a tough cookie. I’ll have to see it after it dries.”
I ran to Home Depot to purchase a utility pump. Aisle Four (plumbing) had become a support group for weary basement warriors. The pump didn’t work in the end either.
I had called everyone, thought of every trick, and tried every strategy I knew. The water just kept coming. So I surrendered and spent the next six hours hand-wringing towels into waste baskets and dumping them outside.
After I got over all the possible resentments (the guy I bought the home from, the plumber, the contractor, and a couple of other personalities) I couldn’t help but be awed by the water and its unstoppable flow to the bottom of people’s homes. Water always finds the low spot.
I’ve learned that Torah wisdom is like water. That means that when we humble ourselves, wisdom finds us. It’s just a law of reality. Now, humility doesn’t mean “I’m nothing.” It means that I’m something, even something special. But as great my something is, it’s so small relative to the wondrous, infinite, awesome source that makes my and everyone else’s something special to begin with.
May we merit to trust in the law of the low places: wisdom, like water, will always find the humble.
Shabbat Shalom,
Henry Harris
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