Have you ever experienced getting a new roof on your house? It is a process! You can’t just call the 1st roofing company in the phone book (do people even use phone books anymore?), I mean online, to get the job done. It is a procedure for sure.
To begin with, your insurance agent comes out and evaluates the damage of your house and then turns it in to get approved. If and when it is approved, you get bids from different roofing companies and you and the insurance agency agree upon one. Getting on the roofer’s schedule is next. Hopefully, there is not a long wait. Then the anticipation begins….. Or at least it did for me!
The morning our roof was scheduled to be replaced, I woke up extra early. I was worried about our dogs and if they would bark all day with all the commotion that was going to happen. I fed the pups, put them outside for a bit and waited. As I put the dogs back inside, I noticed a couple of trucks pulling up to the house. In the next few minutes several more vehicles arrived and the guys that were going to reroof the house emerged! What I think most impressed me was that as the men got out of their trucks and cars they were laughing and joking and hugging each other. I could tell there was a kindred spirit amongst these guys. It didn’t matter that it was 7AM (so early) and the sun was barely up. Who knows what time these guys had even woken up? It also didn’t matter that they were about to have a physically exhausting day. You could tell these men were just happy to be there and thankful for the opportunity!
The entire roofing project was a well-oiled machine! Each man had his job and did it perfectly. If any of them saw that someone else needed help, they jumped to it and helped out. There was no room for selfishness. The process was loud and there were things flying off the roof for a couple of hours. Then as quickly as the roof was clear, new materials started going up the ladders back on the roof. The trust, dependability and teamwork of these men amazed me! The laughter, the music and the smiles continued throughout the morning.
Lunch was taken in shifts so the work was continuous. I never saw anyone complain! I saw the men share and take turns all day. Then it was time to clean up. No one tried to get out of helping. Everyone had their specific job, but again it was obvious that if they helped one another it would be more productive and they would get done sooner. It was evident these men were thankful they had this job! The entire day was amazing! What I dreaded and thought was going to be an inconvenience, actually turned into a day of reflection and appreciation.
I realized that reroofing a house is much like any big thing that happens in life. Our world has gotten so that we anticipate the worst when we really should be thankful for what is happening. There are many situations in our world that need to be repaired to make them better. In repairing them, sometimes it gets loud and messy, however, that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy and helpful while we work on improvements. We can learn from the process. We need people in our lives that are “all in” to help us! We all need to smile, play music and lend a hand to others when we see they need it!
All I know is that if everyone worked as hard and had the positive, selfless attitudes like the amazing team of guys who reroofed our house, our world would become a better place!
What areas in your life need to be “reroofed” or repaired? How can you learn from the improvement process? Are there people you know that would be “all in” to help you and be a part of your team?