There’s an ageless story of the man who lives in an older home. The roof of his home has gotten into a state of disrepair and has begun to leak. The problem persists for years. Each time it rains, the man and his family know the familiar spots where the leaks occur and they dutifully set out buckets to catch the water.
Finally, one day a stranger comes to visit and while he’s there, it starts to rain very hard. The family instantly springs into action and begins to set up the buckets in all the right spots.
Amazed, the stranger asks the man why it is that if he knows that the roof leaks and even where the leaks are, why he doesn’t go up on the roof and fix the leaks, rather than putting out all those buckets.
The man looks the stranger in the eye with surprise and perhaps even a little disdain. He then informs the stranger that he isn’t about to go up on the roof in a rain storm and fix leaks. He’d get soaked doing that.
The stranger concedes this point but then asks the man, “Well then, why don’t you go up on the roof on a sunny day and fix the leaks?”
The man shakes his head in disbelief and, laughing slightly, responds, “Because it doesn’t leak on sunny days. Who’s going to go to all that work to fix a roof that’s not leaking?”
Most of us hear this story and laugh. We consider the absurdity of it and wonder how anyone could follow this pattern of thinking in their life.
When we honestly look at our own lives, what are the things that we use this type of circular logic in? In what areas of our lives have we become willing to set out buckets, rather than fix the source? How many of the things that we need to change in our faith walk have we let go unchanged because we have the grace of God as a bucket to catch our mistakes?
After all, when we’re not doing the will of the Almighty, we have His grace to forgive us and when we are in between acts of disobedience, we’re not doing anything to need His grace for, so why worry about our future actions?
We are all imperfect and we do need the grace of God. But if we spent a little more time with Him, seeking to know His will and His ways and doing them, especially during the times when the roof isn’t leaking, then we might have fewer times when we need grace, which would afford us more time to give it out. Blessings!

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