Asphalt 2

This Story is taken from my book "Rescue the Stories, Book Two."

 

Hot Asphalt on a Roof

Our young neighbor girl stood at my front door and asked if she could walk with us to school.  I invited her into the house and gathered my brood so we could all walk together.  

As I looked at our little friend, I asked her, “Is your daddy a roofer?” 

She looked up at me and said, “Yes, how did you know?”  I told her, “Our daddy is a roofer too, and we mothers just know some things.”   

The truth was I knew, because one look at the blouse she was wearing, and I could see a tiny black dot of asphalt. 

Her mother had the same problem in her laundry that I did.  Although I was very careful to wash my husband’s clothes separately and hang them on the line, it was inevitable that a speck or two of asphalt was deposited and hidden in the washing machine.  It would then be transferred unknowingly to our other clothing. 

Energine Spot Remover was the chemical of choice to remove asphalt from my washer, and it often worked on clothing, but it did not always remove everything.  

Paint on Fabric

More than once, I took out my “Tri-Chem” fabric paints and drew a flower on my girl’s dresses.  The boy’s clothes seemed to escape the asphalt, how I did not know. 

One day the wife of our roofer friend asked me how I dealt with the asphalt in my life. 

 

She informed me that she would get so angry to the point of tears, and she simply could not cope with this problem.   

I suggested that because roofing work was our bread and butter, that we should accept asphalt as a necessary evil and try to live with it.  I told her that in life there are a lot of situations we must simply put up with, and in our case asphalt was one of them.  

Understand that I am not suggesting that we put up with sin and filth in our lives, but as we age and get older, there are many changes in body and lifestyle that can occur. 

 

In some situations we must put up with aching joints, hair falling out and other signs that we are not as young as we use to be.  

 

Learning to be frugal has always been my practice, but there are many ways we can become skilled in saving money and stretching our dollars.

 

Loosing a spouse, by death or divorce can bring unwanted anguish and unplanned change, and even anger, depression and despair.   

With God’s guiding hand, He can facilitate what ever changes are ahead and He can smooth the progress, no matter what are our circumstances.   

You are not alone.  Many are experiencing similar situations.  One thing we must always remember is that God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.