Well, I’m happy (and my hair is, too!) to report that Brad has repealed the one gallon limit law he imposed when we began having problems with our well two weeks ago. If you missed the one gallon limit story, you can read it here. As of about 6:00 pm last Friday, we have water! The picture above is our well being “flushed” on Thursday. Even though I’m a country girl, I’ve never lived in a house with a well, so I had no clue that such a process was necessary. And, I can tell you that I was positively heartbroken the well required flushing for 27 hours before we had clean water again. With so many people desperate for water, I just hated letting it pour out onto the ground.

But that’s not the story for today. Today’s story is not about the well, but about the well people. Ultimately, I’m singing their praises because the well works, but I’ll be honest and tell you that they stretched my patience on more than one occasion, especially since it took TWO very long weeks to get water again. When they drove up in the driveway today, I immediately headed outside to see what the scoop was. Big John, as I’ve taken to calling him, arrived with his crew, Curly, Moe, and Larry. Now that’s not their real names, but I bet you’ve conjured up an accurate image. Big John is the brains of the operation. Big John told me they were here to pick up the two trailers they’d left behind last week. It appears both trailers were needed at two other homes without water. I was instantly sympathetic. Big John mumbled some unintelligible instructions to the trio, and Moe quickly responded, “John, this here truck ain’t got no hitch.” To clarify, “this here truck” was Moe’s reference to the huge truck that houses the drilling rig. Not to be outdone, Curly quickly added, “This truck ain’t got no hitch either.” He, of course, was referring to the single cab Chevy the trio rode up in. Big John, in his best drawl exclaims rather loudly, “Well, cra-aaap.” That’s crap with two syllables in case you didn’t get it.

Yep, you guessed it. Big John and the trio arrived at my house to pick up two trailers that were desperately needed in order to assist two other homes without water, and holy smokes . . . neither truck had a trailer hitch. Now I know why it took them two weeks to get our well going again. Just sayin’.

Funny thing is, today I had a totally different reaction to their unorganized, haphazard approach. Once they drove off, I had quite a laugh – one of those out loud, almost snorting, just about make-you-cry laughs. I even called Brad and gave him my best Big John, Curly, and Moe impersonations and retold the whole story to him.

And it got me to thinking…

It was easy for me to laugh. I had water.

My ability to laugh at life . . . and at myself . . . and at rotten circumstances . . . is based on how full my cup is. When my cup is running low or is just plain empty, I can only see how tough my circumstances are. My perspective is completely trapped by what’s missing in my cup. I can’t see my way out, much less through, my difficulties.

But when my cup is full, I can laugh my way right through the tough times. I can put a smile on my face and thank God for His goodness in my life. I can respond to life’s challenges with an attitude that says I know just how wildly blessed I am!

Our hearts and our cups can be filled by God alone. Only through a close relationship with Him can we be certain our cup will always be full . . . that we can laugh today and praise Him anyway!

“…my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23 (The Message)