1 More Day...to Rest
I think I've painted every room in our home of 19 years at least 3 times. I like the idea of painting and the finished product. It's just the in between that gets to me. My ADD kicks in and instead of finishing a wall, I start cleaning something or decluttering a drawer. I have to force myself to stay focused and finish the paint job.
This past weekend was no different. I was painting my son's room and knocked out the 3 walls and trim in no time. And then I got to the last wall.
Up and down the ladder I went. There was one final section that needed paint. It would require me to climb down the ladder, move all the supplies that were under the ladder, move the ladder and climb back up. That seemed like a lot of work for one small section.
I decided that I would climb as high as I could on that ladder then stretch my body like elastic woman and finish the job.
That's when I lost my footing. I fell off the ladder as one leg went through the rungs so that the ladder, the paint tray and the painter (me) came crashing down.
In addition to the scrapes all over my legs, I was covered from head to toe in paint. There was paint everywhere - my hair, my ears, my mouth, my clothes, the carpet, the furniture - it splattered everywhere.
There I was - a complete mess. I thought I could stretch just a tad more. Now hours of clean up were in store. And that darn section was still needing to be painted. I yelled at the dogs who just stared and fussed my family for not being to help me. However, in retrospect it was good they weren't or I would currently be a YouTube sensation because it was no graceful fall.
Just a tad more. Just one more thing to cross off my list. Just one more hour at work. We go and go with no break. We live life 90 to nothing with our hair on fire. And sometimes we stretch too far and end up making a mess. We explode with anger on others; we get sloppy with our work and our words. We lose our footing.
Some times we need to take a time out. We need to get off the ladder and rest. We don't need to do one more thing or "paint one more section." We need a break. We need to rest in God's love and grace. And then when we are ready, we need to climb back up that ladder and finish the job.
Psalm 62:1-2 “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”