Doing your job too well

All of the UPVC windows on the manse where we live have lockable handles (potential burglars please note and don’t bother). They’re the sort that open and close when you push the button, unless you lock them: when the button doesn’t push in.

I don’t know if they were all fitted around the same time (it would make sense) but several of them have had the same problem recently. They’re too secure. The button still goes in and out, but it no longer releases the mechanism that allows the handle to turn and so the window is permanently locked. In the hot days we have had (and will continue to have), when opening windows is rather helpful, that is rather inconvenient. The locks are doing their job too well.

One has already been replaced and last night I discovered another one with the same problem. You can buy replacement locking handles online or in hardware stores and fitting them is fairly simple once you can open the handle and access the fitting screws that are concealed by the handle in the locked position, but if they remain locked you can’t access those screws. The security of the system is too well designed to prevent tampering and access.

Thankfully there are videos on YouTube (other video sharing sites are available) that show how you can disengage the locking mechanism (from inside the house). Having watched one such video I had a go and was delighted to have a window that opened again almost instantly. Hooray!

I put my tools away and then the thought occurred to me… ‘I wonder if that’s fixed it permanently?’

I closed the window and pulled the handle down into the closed position. Then I pushed the button to open it and…

Nope.

The lock was doing it’s job too well again.

Back to the tools, more finagling and jiggling, and then it opened again.

Hooray!

Now I have to buy and fit a replacement, as more hot weather is forecast and I can’t finagle and jiggle the handle every time we want to open the window.

I know that in reality the window handle / lock is broken, but the effect of that was that it was doing its job too well. That got me wondering if there are ways in which we do jobs too well?

The sort of thing that comes to mind is if someone wants to learn something from us and we do the task so quickly and effortlessly that they can’t see what to do.

Or what about if we’re exercising relentlessly to improve our physical condition? If we don’t allow rest and recuperation between exercise sessions we may do more harm than good.

I’m sure there are plenty of other examples. In the first case, however, it wasn’t that we did the task too well, it was that we didn’t do the task well at all. The task wasn’t to show how good we are, it was to teach our companion and we completely failed to do that.

In the second case it wasn’t that we exercised too well, it was that we failed to exercise in a balanced way.

When I was at the Bible College that taught me what to do as a Baptist Minister we had a session where we were asked to write down our personal mission statement as a minister. We were asked to share them with the group. There were lots of very worthy, spiritual and impressive answers, which made me wonder about mine.

“I want to do myself out of a job.”

There was some laughter but it seemed to me that the task of a minister is not to do everything for the church, nor is it to be impressive, nor is it to overwork. The task of a minister is to equip the church to be the best free samples of Jesus they can be. And if we do it well enough they won’t need us.

It’s not quite as simple as that as hopefully there are regularly new people who also need supporting and equipping, and there are lots of other aspects to the job too, but it’s always been in the back of my mind as a personal mission statement. If I ever manage it I don’t think I will have done my job too well, but just right.

Be blessed, be a blessing