Gumball Machine

Serendipity is putting a quarter in the gumball machine and having three pieces come rattling out instead of one - all red. 

Peter H. Reynolds

 

March 2016 

It's a fresh and sunny sunday morning, my family came all the way from Germany for this special occasion and even some family from around the area is slowly showing up. They all came to celebrate the beginning of my new job in the Methodist church in Büren. A couple of wonderful songs, a short sermon, I'm getting interviewed and people are coming to the front to bless me and pray for this new chapter of mine. 

To be honest, I don't recall too many details about the songs we sang or what the sermon was about. But what I do remember is a dear friend of mine who came up next. I didn't know her well at the time but what she said to me has been on my mind since then. 
She came to the front, holding a gumball machine in her arms. 

She looked at me and told me, that she had been praying for me and thought of this gumball machine while doing so. 

"Sarah, you remind me of a gumball machine. You have different colored talents and qualities. You will hopefully be able to use a lot of them on this new job. But please remember: Just like this gumball machine, there's always only one gum at the time coming out. Be careful not to try to get more than one out at the same time. If you need to refill, you can come to me or anyone else you trust - we want to be there for you if you let us."

 

I really liked this and kinda thought to myself, that this was cute and everything but couldn't really understand, what she meant.

 

May 2017

One year has gone by and I'm enjoying life. Everything is busy and fast, but I keep moving because I like the fast life, you know? I love doing five things at the same time and don't really see, why I should do anything different. I'm working on a couple jobs, living a social-like lifeststyle and study two days a week. Wedddings, Parties and Friends on the weekends, a lot of travelling during the week, church on sunday. But hey -  YOLO, live your life while your young and just go with the flow, right? The gumball machine stands in the corner of my room, on a topshelf.. Not really in use, but it looks nice.

 

July 2018

A dear friend of mine comes over to visit. It was difficult to find a time, when we both can make it happen. Well, to be honest it's mainly my fault - I just don't have lots of options in finding more than 4 hours of spare timein my calendar.
But hey, we made it. Lots to catch up on - I've moved again, quit old jobs and started new ones, lost friendships and gained new friends. She got engaged, moved back and forth between two worlds and is handling different struggles on her own. 

She sees the gumball machine in the corner of my kitchen and instantly wants to try it out. It's hot outside and I haven't used the machine properly for a while - all the gums are glued together. 

"No problem, let me do this - I'm just gonna give it a good shake" - one loud noise, glass is splittering all around the kitchen floor and about 80 multicolored gumballs are rolling all over the floor. 

We try to fix the broken glass with some bandaids, laughing about my clumsyness and the whole situation. But for some reason, both of us have a small personal realisation about this whole thing on our own.

 

Today

I think about gumball machines a lot lately. Not just because mine is broken, but in general. Who thought about this weird concept? I mean, come on: It's a thin glass bowl that lets you see all the things you desire and want so desperately but also makes clear, that you only get one if you spend a ridiculous amount of coins on it. So lots of gumball machines are getting abandoned and the gum inside gets all gross and sticky. Or one breaks the glass to get to the gum but leaves the whole machine broken and also risks a bloody hand and shards between the gumballs.

 

I only just fully understood what my friend told me 2.5 years ago. If you don't take care of yourself, of your ressources and your time, your machine is going to break eventually. Even if it feels like serendipity in the moment you hold more than just one of those gumballs in your hand - it really isn't.. We need to understand, that we are in charge of our ressources and our wellbeing - to a certain amount that is. Things break and hopefully I learned my lesson, but I hope that you can see the signs beforehand and react now.

 

After my gumballs rolled all over the floor - I even found one in my handbag at some point -  I finally understood, that I need to and actually started to do something about it.

 

I thought long about whether I should write about this or not.  I came to the conclusion, that I want to share it with you.

Maybe this really weirded you out - well, so be it.

But I truely believe that in this very fast and hectic times we live in, we need to be able to talk about broken things, take time to fix what is broken and hopefully learn our lessons so that we can be cautious next time. 

Advise

Next time you stand in front of a gumball machine do the following steps.

1.     Make eye contact with a gum of your choice

2.     Take a quarter out of pocket

3.     But the quarter into the slot and turn the knob

4.     Listen to the sound of the rattling gumball

4.5  Prepare yourself to not get the gum you made execontact with.

5.    Take your gum out of the machine and enjoy (it'll only last for about 4 minutes, but it's worth it)

Disclaimer: If you actually were as lucky as to get two or even three gumballs at the same time - keep in mind, that this is not your regular situation. So please don't get used to it and be dissapointed when it doesn't work every time but rather enjoy your luck and smile. 

 

Sarah