Many years ago, in the Dark Ages before I met Helen, I saw a vendor at the Home and Patio Show showing off the wonders of a new-style rubber broom. I have no recollection of why I was even at the Home and Patio Show, but I was intrigued by the broom – a flat, squeegee-like surface on one side, longish rubber nubs on the other. It was light, maneuverable, and worked much better than a traditional straw or synthetic-bristle broom. So I bought it.
to motivate anyone to keep a clean house.
Fast forward several years to married life. Pulling fresh clothes out of the dryer, I noticed for the millionth time a bunch of dryer lint, some cat hair, and some kitty litter sand all over the floor, and wondered why the detritus hadn’t all disappeared like is does everywhere else in the house. In a moment of rare domestic inspiration. I found my old, trusty rubber broom buried behind the HVAC unit, pulled it out, and reacquainted myself with the instrument’s magic.
“Hey, this thing works great,” I gushed to Helen, who had just come upstairs. “I wonder why I don’t use this more often!”
One look from Helen was all it took to realize I had stepped in it. A real “duh” moment.
“Yeah, I wonder,” Helen responded dryly.
It’s not like the broom’s effectiveness was really a surprise. Its performance just wasn’t enough to motivate me to use it. It is just a tool, and tools themselves just aren’t motivation enough to get me to use them – although I DO look for opportunities to pull out the chainsaw whenever I can. No, the motivation was having a clean laundry room floor, not the joy of sweeping.
was my motivation for finding one of my nail setters
and hammering the finishing nails back onto place.
Having the right tool is important. For example, each spring the finishing nails on two of our wooden steps to the second floor pop up about half an inch. If the calendar isn’t enough to remind me, landing a bare foot in the middle of Step No. 2 or Step No. 5 is more than enough. You’d also think it’s enough to hammer the nails back in. But this is me we’re talking about, so you would be wrong. It’s much easier to avoid stepping on the nails than it is to pound them back in.
Here again is the issue of proper tools. I know exactly where my hammers are. If I use just a hammer, however, I’ll end up putting dents in the wooden stairs. A nail setter is necessary to fix the problem without any damage. But I have no idea where my nail setters are. And it’s a whole lot easier to avoid the nails than it is to dig through my tool boxes.
Almost sounds like life – doesn’t it? Letting an issue linger, or allowing damage, because it’s not worth the small effort to make things right. Procrastination is always easier.
Really, it’s not all that hard to pull out the tool box of under-used habits. Here’s a tool – praise. Tell a sourpuss what a nice smile they have. Here’s another – courtesy. Letting the person behind you in the grocery store check-out line cut ahead because you have five items and they have twenty-five. Consideration? Take an extra turn cleaning the kitchen after dinner – with no points off for watching a ballgame while you work.
can visit to obtain a plenary indulgence.
For Catholics, there’s one tool we avoid like the plague – Confession (actually, the Sacrament of Reconciliation). But in this Jubilee Year, there’s something even better. Did you know you can pray someone into heaven? Just by seeking a plenary indulgence, you can spring someone from their punishment in Purgatory. You can even wipe away punishment for all the forgiven sins you’ve committed in your entire life up to now. It’s the Church’s way of expressing God’s infinite mercy and his desire to meet us in heaven.
Consider it a broom for your soul, a broom that flies you all the way to heaven.
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