Things I have learned overseas #3: MOLD

Lately, the weather has been puny at best. Slightly chilled and damp air infiltrates every surface including tile floors, concrete walls and even bed linens.  Although the temperature is not particularly low- only in the 50s and 60s usually- we don't have central heat.  This means that the temperature outside is the same inside.  But worse is the humidity outside is the same as inside.

Winter is the worst time of year in Taipei for humidity.  With average rainfall doubling that of Oklahoma and average number of sunny days numbering in half, humidity is a force to be reckoned with. Imagine crawling into bed at the end of a hard day only to be met with cold, damp sheets.  Sheets that feel as though they had only half-dried before making a bed and that smack of mildew.

Jeff and I just spent the better part of the evening wiping (again) mold off half the walls in our bedroom.  The mold has penetrated through bleach solutions, Lysol and now a desperate attempt at using 409. We wipe it away only to be taunted every few days with dotted, black patches creeping through the damp walls.

Isn't this what New Year's Resolutions are like? We vow to wipe away the ickiness that accumulates in our lives only for the ickiness to return in just a few days.  We try different cleaning products in the forms of new diets, self-help books and maybe even a new religion (or revisit an old one), only to be met with disappointment at our old self shining through. It always begins small.  We allow ourselves just one candy bar, one bad mood, one lie or one excuse.  Slowly the mold creeps in and erases any good intentions we had.

But what if there were another way? What if instead of trying really hard, we just surrendered? What if we allowed a force greater than us to take over? And instead of the mold slowly creeping in, we allowed this force to penetrate every aspect of our being so as to not leave room for the mold.  What if this could happen?  Would you let it? Think on these things.

"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God."