There's a Whole in the Bucket

Ok, I admit it right up-front: I am blog-cheating.

I am *stealing* this brilliant blog-post from my dear friend, Marianne Clyde ... partly because this is soooooo good, partly because I'm currently at an art-show (as you read this -- pray for good sales! and gooder conversations!), and mostly because my husband Mark sings this song a LOT, and then it gets stuck in MY head...!

And I absotively LOVE how Marianne shows the trap of circular (erroneous!) thinking that we all get stuck in!

Here goes (enjoy!):

Is there a hole in your bucket?

From out of nowhere I found this song playing around in my head. I have a unique talent for storing children's songs, poems, nursery rhymes in a special corner of my brain. Many people might think it's a little odd or at the very least indicates low brain function I, however, find them full of treasures and life lessons that can be applied to our lives even as adults. You can actually listen to the tune here: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/t028.html so that you can also have the tune in your head. (Stick with me; there is a point.)



"There's a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza, there's a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
Then fix it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I fix it, Dear Liza, with what?

With a straw, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
With a straw, dear Henry, Dear Henry, with a straw.

But the straw is too long, Dear Liza, dear Liza
But the straw is too long, Dear Liza, too long

Then cut it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
Then cut it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I cut it, Dear Liza, with what?

With an axe, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
With an axe, dear Henry, Dear Henry, an axe.

The axe is too dull, Dear Liza, dear Liza
The axe is too dull, Dear Liza, too dull

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
Then sharpen it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, sharpen it.

With what shall I sharpen it, Dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I sharpen it, Dear Liza, with what?

With a stone, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
With a stone, dear Henry, Dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, Dear Liza, dear Liza
The stone is too dry, Dear Liza, too dry

Then wet it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
Then wet it, dear Henry, Dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, Dear Liza, dear Liza?
With what shall I wet it, Dear Liza, with what?

With water, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
With water, dear Henry, Dear Henry, with water.

How shall I get it, Dear Liza, dear Liza,
How shall I get it, Dear Liza, how shall I?

In the bucket, dear Henry, Dear Henry, dear Henry
In the bucket, dear Henry, Dear Henry, in the bucket.

There's a hole in the bucket."


Here is the point. As soon as I started thinking of this song, I thought of how often it seems that as soon as we get something, it seems to disappear. When we get a raise at work, it seems to be gone before we know it. When we recover from one cold, another one seems to come to replace it. We begin the breathe easy when things start to be going well in our families, only to get a phone call that bring that sick feeling to our stomach. It seems as if we have a hole in our bucket. No matter how fast we fill it, or try to keep it full, the contents leaks out.


So, I asked God. If you could tell everyone about how to stop the leak, what would you say?


"What leak?"


You know. The leak from their lives so that they never feel full or satisfied or complete. The leak of abundance, money, love, energy, joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, sense of purpose, clarity of direction.


"You are starting with a faulty premise."


What do you mean? I am thinking of life as a bucket and that bucket seems to have a hole in it. Every time it looks like it might be filling up, the water leaks out. Every time we think we have enough money, time, talent, love, it seems to slip away. So I am asking how to patch up that hole.


"As I said, your focus is wrong. If you concentrate on the leak, you will never feel full. Just as in the song, the solution ends up pointing to the problem. In trying to fix the leak, there is much activity. You feel as if you are making progress:

1. You identify the problem.

2. You have a solution in mind.

3. You develop a plan to carry out the solution.

4. You acquire things that will help you create the solution.

5. You develop another plan to hone or perfect the things you have acquired.

6. You gather the tools and develop yet another plan as to how to use those tools.

7. Finally, you find that you are ready to implement the plan that will lead to the solution only to find that the solution is not possible because of the original problem.

It becomes a vicious cycle. Much of life is just like this. There is a flurry of activity until everyone is exhausted, only to find that the initial limitations prevent the solution. People are very good at looking busy and productive, but to what end? Here, your focus in on the bucket, and more accurately, on the hole in the bucket. You are thinking that if you can just fix the problem (the hole), you can then have everything you want. This is wrong thinking. Your focus is on the finite and the measurable. If you focus on that, you will never have enough of anything."


But, Lord, how can we fix a problem if we don't focus on it? What should we focus on?


"The Source of the flow, which never runs dry. Ever. And that is within you, leak or no leak."

You can follow Marianne's blog here: http://blog.marianneclyde.com/

Shalom, Dena