Quite a few years ago, Betty and I were enjoying a holiday on a small cruise ship on one of the rivers in Europe. One night the crew member in charge of entertainment announced that he was arranging a concert for the following evening where the passengers could put on an item.
Betty and I thought about what we might do to be a part of the show. We finally came up with the idea to perform with props, the song, “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole”. This was a well-known song based on a protracted dialogue between two characters, Henry and Liza. A leaky bucket leads to a deadlock situation. Henry’s bucket leaks, so Liza tells him to repair it. To fix the leaky bucket, Henry needs straw. To cut the straw he needs a knife. To use the knife, Henry needs to sharpen it. The sharpening stone must be damp, so he needs water. To fetch water, Henry needs a bucket. But there’s a hole in the bucket!
To put on our performance, we had to do some planning, preparation and practice to perform at the show. Firstly, we had to decide what we were going to wear. We then had to find a bucket from somewhere which luckily, we found with help from our steward. Our biggest problem was finding straw – where on a cruise ship do you find straw? Betty went to the galley and spoke to the head chef and explained our problem. The only material he could offer was rice, which we gratefully accepted. After all this preparation, our performance seemed to go down quite well with the audience.
This 400-year-old nursery rhyme tells us in a humorous way of the futility we sometimes encounter when we are attempting to achieve a goal but seem to be going around in circles. I have found these situations can crop up in our personal, working and even in our church experiences. We start off on a project knowing what we want to achieve in the end, but problems crop up along the way that can frustrate and confuse us and even force us to end the project.
As I thought about this example of having the hole in a bucket, I wondered whether we ever thought about the holes we may have in our lives that prevent us from being a true follower of the Christ? Do we have a hole that is leaking out the good qualities of a Christian life such as patience, kindness and love so that characteristics like criticism, arrogance and jealousy take over? If we discover this is happening, what can we do to remove the holes we know that are there? Self-examination, prayer and persistence are powerful tools to use as we try and plug these holes. Another way is to stop and review where we are at and see if there is an alternative way of completing the job by plugging the holes.
President W. Grant McMurray gave us the following challenge in 2000 recorded in D&C 161:7 that I can turn to for help and guidance as we examine our lives: “The Spirit of the One you follow is the spirit of love and peace. That Spirit seeks to abide in the hearts of those who would embrace its call and live its message. The path will not always be easy, the choices will not always be clear, but the cause is sure, and the Spirit will bear witness to the truth, and those who live the truth will know the hope and joy of discipleship in the community of Christ. Amen.”
Do you see a hole in your life that is causing concern and needs to be plugged? May you find the means to plug it by exploring the possibilities of repairing the hole and through prayer and with confident persistence become whole again. May God be with you in your striving to plug that hole.
Bill Gillard