I stand at the sink flapping my hands trying to silently scream, “I’m here, I’m here, I”M HERE!” The faucet is nonplused. It ignores me completely. I look in the bowl trying to discern if there is any remaining water to indicate if the sink is actually active or just a lure for a great big game show experiment. I shift the left and flap. Again, I am ignored. Three sinks to the right a man walks up and begins to wash his hands.
I covet his sink. I look at my teeth in the mirror to buy some time as I wait for the sensitive sink. The crowd thins and I slide across the room like I’m about to exit and then make a hard left to the sink. This time I’m cool. I slowly extend my hands as if to offer a fragile flower to the wind. I make gentle stirring motions under the faucet cradling my hands in the shape of a cup. I start to cry on the inside. This faucet has colluded with its friends to deny me water.
A guy comes to my initial faucet and it spouts out water like an elephant trunk. I concentrate very hard on the silver top. I bring my hands down like a curtain closing off all the other light. Not a drop. I bend my arms into the shape of pretzel and try to fill the bowl with a lot of Kyle and somehow a miracle occurs and the water froths out on my forearm. I retract my legs and feet and shoulders to try to get the water to connect with my hands right at the moment when the water is choked off like it was all a dream. I let the water run down my forearm and try to use it. I reach over to get some soap out of the dispenser and the faucet spouts like a whale.
I leave a little bruised and sad. Why do these things ignore me? How are they supposed to work? Why can other people seem to make them work standing right next to me and I struggle like a fish flopping on the beach.
Have you ever felt invisible, unnoticed and ignored? We visited a church last week. It was a small church 40-50 people in attendance. We knew the preacher. We did not know anyone else. This is a group of people who know each other. A couple of people spoke to us. To most, it was as if I was invisible. We should talk to more people. We should go out of our way to talk to everyone we can. We should make sure the water turns on for everyone who walks through our doors. I don’t want anyone to ever leave our place and feel like they have been invisible. Jesus says he is living water. We are the faucets. People have their hands cupped looking for a refreshment, looking to wash out the stain of life, or trying to get enough Gospel to grow. They should not have to flap, and make a scene to get noticed. Lets just turn on the water.