A Screw in Time

Last week, I revived my flagging manliness and blew the dust off my drill and tool box. I’m having a new carpet fitted in my study; the old one was threadbare and I spend many hours there. Up went the old one, leaving behind some rather stark floorboards. Judging by their wear and colour, I think these the ones laid by the original builders in 1890. Yet this was just the right time to sort something that has been annoying me for years.

In the time between the disposing of the old carpet and the laying of the new, I located the squeakiest of floorboards and screwed them down to the joists. An old house will never be creak-free, but the three-inch screws have successfully remedied the worst offending. I can now walk across the floor without someone downstairs tracing my movements. Just before laying a new carpet is the right time to do it.

Had I been a woman wishing to reassert some traditional femininity, I might have reached for the sewing box and quoted ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. In other words, acting now saves trouble later. I really would have kicked myself had I had the new carpet laid before realising the need to screw those boards down. With sewing and DIY, we understand the principle. With our spiritual life and eternity, we are too often caught out. There are people reading this who have an interest in the Lord Jesus and the gospel, but have not yet got round to confessing their sin and asking Him to forgive them. This is called being born again. Do it now, while you have the opportunity. When death claims you, you will have no voice with which to call on the name of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. Acts 2:2