Our extractor fan above the hob has been out of action for several weeks. Apart from pressing the ‘on’ button every now and then (more in hope than expectation) I did nothing about it. I put off doing anything about it. Except complaining. Especially when I needed it to extract the smell of frying onions and garlic. How frustrating it is when things don’t work! How hard it is to get anything mended. How much time I’ve wasted over the years trying to work out what is wrong with my computer, or printer or phone. And fixing (or not) fan heaters, strimmers, recalcitrant torches and so on.

A couple of days ago, it occurred to me that I’d better check on the guarantee, as we must have installed it a little under 2 years ago, just before we moved in. The guarantee might be still valid, but about to run out. I wearily retrieved the paperwork from the drawer where all our appliances’ documents are to be found (or not found). And yes, it has a 2-year guarantee which will run out in a month or so. Better do something about it and contact the manufacturers’ agents.

But first, go to the back of the appliance booklet where ‘Troubleshooting’ can be found. Check for anything to try. Nothing hopeful there. Just the usual: is it plugged in? Check the fuse is working etc. There is no plug, it’s all wired into the wall. Isn’t it? There are various sockets along the wall … and a switch. I wonder what that switch is for. Press the switch down.  Press the on/off button on the extractor fan and … like magic (black magic?) it works. Feelings of relief and shame. Then: who turned the switch off?

But even if it wasn’t me (which it probably was) what an eejit to whinge for weeks about it not working. Is there something to learn from it apart from my eejit-ness? Endless possibilities no doubt, but here’s what I’m thinking.

I suspect I’m not alone in being much better at giving advice than receiving it. And advice I regularly give, even when not asked, is to face the thing that troubles us. Not in a gung-ho manner, because many things we face are deeply troubling and costly to engage. And we often need another person or persons to help us do that. And even a bit of preparation. But basically we know that putting off dealing with something almost always makes it worse. Not least because we add the stress of all those moments when it comes to mind, and we feel the pain, and it takes energy to squash it down again.

But my experience, and the experience of countless others I’ve sat with, is that the thing we dread to face is often much less dreadful than we fear, and sometimes even simple to sort out.

Okay – it’s a deep and complex thing to hang on a bit of stupidity about an extractor fan. But maybe the determination to face difficult things in our personal experience and in the wider world, might need to begin with small things.

A final word. The ‘abundant life’ or ‘fulness of life’ which Jesus offers us here and now, is not an abundance of things or a full social calendar. It is his promise to us as individuals and as a community, to be with us in every circumstance. To resource us to embrace whatever the day brings, free from the burdens of yesterday and without fear for tomorrow.