Repair or Replace

We continue trying to put right the things that have been damaged during the winter storms that seem relentless here in Somerset.  Last week the roofers came and mended the roof so hopefully we will no longer have any leakage when it rains.  A few of the tiles had slipped out of place and were quite easily returned and firmly fixed in their allotted spots.  Another tile was completely shattered and had to be replaced.  The engineer has also been to service the boiler and central heating system.  The boiler is a few years old but it is still working well and will be ok for another few years.  That's a relief!

Next it is the turn of the man who is coming to put up a new fence as the other one is now virtually non-existent.  (See photo)  That is of course weather permitting!  On the other side of the garden there was a panel of fencing that had been repaired again and again.  Bits had been added in order to keep it in place but the last storm was just too much and it eventually fell out altogether and is now lying on the grass leaving a great big gaping space into the neighbour's garden.  The sad thing is that as it fell it landed on top of a rather nice variegated holly bush, completely flattening it and snapping it off right from the bottom of its stem.  So I not only lost a part of the fence but also one of my plants.  I don't know if the holly bush will recover - I guess time will tell.  

I'm not one usually for just throwing things out and replacing them with new - not if I can make do and mend.  But sometimes mending is not enough.  Repairing will not do.  Some things need to be replaced.  But how we hang on to things that are no longer useful!  We seem loathe to do away with things that are familiar, even if they no longer serve their purpose.  Replacing things can bring upheaval and more work.  The old needs to be totally got rid of in order to make room for the new replacement.  We can't just nail the new fencing onto the old posts - they are part of the problem as they are no longer firm enough to hold the fence panels in place.  The whole thing including the posts needs to be removed to make room for the new fence.

There are of course life lessons to be learned here too.  How many things do I hang on to out of a sense of comfortable familiarity when I should be replacing them with something that actually serves the purpose - not just in the material things but also in the spiritual.  It can be costly to step out and replace that which no longer serves the purpose but sometimes repairing when we should be replacing can do more harm than good as I learned with my holly plant.  It can be unwise to try and hang on to things that no longer work for us.  Trying to repair and renew just doesn't give the result I need.  Instead of patching up the old, I need to replace it with something else that works for me.  We are told not to put new wine into old wineskins. (Luke 5:37)  Doing what is right for me might cost me and take a bit of courage and effort but well worth it in the end.