It was almost a perfect installation … except for the leak.

We have been having issues with our laundry room taps for some time. But for me, they are out of the way and rarely used, so I didn’t see it as a priority to deal with.

Recently, however, Lily put a bucket under the faucet and I couldn’t believe how fast the water filled the bucket even with the taps turned off. 

I knew we needed to do something, but the taps were over 20 years old and I’m not a plumber. 

My wife, Lily, found a really nice utility sink cabinet combo that also included a set of taps. So I threw caution to the wind and decided to try to install that bad boy.

One thing really surprised me about the old dripping taps was that when we would turn the taps on, it always seemed like the water was coming from some far away place, like the street or Lake Ontario. 

You would turn the taps on and then wait. You would hear the sound of something in the distance coming from the taps and it would get louder and louder before the water showed up at the spout. 

By then you had turned the taps to full, so the water came out like a rocket. 

“If the water is so far away,” I wondered, “how could the leaky tap now fill a bucket so fast?”

That’s a mystery – like who shot JFK – that will never be solved. I just have to let it go. 

The install of the new sink unit went pretty well. Lily helped with the measuring and I cut pipes to fit. 

I did not get one cut straight. I’m not sure how the pros do it. Maybe I got excited near the end of each cut and pressed harder, which in turn turned the blade of the saw just a little.

I was concerned about it, but all the pieces fit together. I was sure happy when it was done.

I put a bucket in the sink to test the taps and they worked like a dream. I wasn’t going to let any water go down the drain until the glue had dried so I waited 24 hours before testing it all out. 

The water came out beautifully and immediately. This time there was no going for a coffee before the water appeared.  

I opened the cabinet up and looked at all the drain work we had done. I thought everything was good. 

But then I saw a bead of water start to drip. And as the taps ran, it dripped more until there was a little puddle of water on the base of the new cabinet.

I knew right then that I would never become a plumber. 

The question was, “What went wrong?” Was it my crooked cuts? Was it the fact that the drain wasn’t 100% straight up and down? 

… Maybe a combination of both.  

All I know is that most of my attention was on what’s under the sink and not what everyone sees.

Here’s the thing: We all like to look good on the outside, and we spend a lot of time and effort creating and maintaining a public image. But before your public image has any credibility, what’s on the inside needs to be made right. Make sure you spend more time with God getting your inner life right than you do trying to make your public image look good. Your inner life will drive what people see. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What part of your inner life do you need to spend time on? Leave your comments below.