Spiraling Gutter

I did something new on my way home today.
I paid attention to how many houses have gutters vs. how many houses do not.
“Why did I do this?” you might ask.
Because a friend told me that she needed to clean the gutters at her house.
So I was thinking about gutters.
Which is something I don’t usually do.
Except when the gutters near my classroom leak, or completely fall off,
Or when I see a gutter growing a tree.
Here is what I noticed.
More houses than not did not have gutters,
Except for when I got into my neighborhood.
Then it was reversed.

After a brief moment of research, I learned this about gutters:
“Depending on the roof style of a house, gutters may not need to be all around the house. All roof planes which pitch downward are typically guttered. Gutters are usually installed on the bottom edge of downward-pitched roofs to channel water away from the foundation where it could seep into the basement, splash up dirt onto the foundation, or fill up basement window wells, which also could seep into the basement. Flat roofs should also be guttered because leaving water on a flat roof can cause leaks and rotting. They may be installed with a slight pitch to all-around guttering or to one or more downspouts.”

So why do most of the houses on my way home not have gutters while most of the houses in my neighborhood do?
I don’t know.
But I’m thinking about it.
Because a friend brought gutters to my attention.
And because gutter-knowledge is something that I can expand upon.

When I was in divinity school, one of my professors introduced the idea that instead of faith being something that grows in a linear line with periods of flat plateau, faith is something that grows in loops, constantly moving forward, constantly having moments of “ups” and “downs.”

I like this image because I think it allows us to see how faith so often grows by issue, event, question, struggle, etc.

I think that we live our lives, doing our best to make it through each day, dealing with whatever is in front of us—whatever has been brought to our attention—whatever is presented to our minds for such a time as this.

When someone that we know is diagnosed with cancer, we struggle with how, when, and why God answers prayers for healing.
When someone that we know tells us that someone once told her that if she couldn’t believe in the story of creation exactly as it was written in the Bible then she might as well not believe anything at all, we consider if that statement is true.
When someone that we know comes out, we struggle with issues of sexuality.
When someone that we know loses a job, we struggle with issues of God’s faithfulness and discernment.
When someone that we know is killed or commits suicide, we struggle with issues of life and death.

When we are finished with our struggle—when we have landed in a place where we feel comfortable in our beliefs—when we learn everything that we want to know—then we move forward—and onto something else.

So…when someone that we know has to clean the gutters on her house, we begin to notice gutters and wonder about their function.
Or at least I do.
Today.