I work in a school.

My office/classroom is on the same hall as the bathrooms.

In the basement.

Most of the time this is not a problem. Occasionally it can get a little, shall we say odoriforous.

Yesterday was another thing altogether. I don’t want to get into all the smelly details, but it was really, really bad. Overflowing into the hall-I couldn’t get to my classroom-and wouldn’t want to even if I could-bad. And we were all upstairs, at the other end of the building complaining about the stench. Teachers and students. Well, I needed something from my office. I decided to brave the smell and see if I could get to it.

No good. I got halfway down the stairs and saw that the whole hallway was flooded. And what I smelled made me glad I couldn’t get any closer.

But, get this. Pedro, our PE Teacher/Bus Driver/Groundskeeper/ Maintainance Man was down there, in the mess and the smell and while we were complaining, he was whistling. Whistling! And it wasn’t a dirge.

I asked him about it this morning and he said, “What else can you do when the situation seems desperate?”

Huh.

Makes me think of this.

Psalm 34

1  I will extol the LORD at all times;
       his praise will always be on my lips.

 2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
       let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

The bathroom wasn’t the only thing out of order yesterday. My attitude was equally out of order. I don’t want to play the part of the afflicted, I want to be the helper, the encourager, the one who causes others to rejoice.

I want to be the whistler.