manrymission.com

Doing renovation work always seems like a great idea to make your house more appealing. Living in the midst of the mess created by the renovation dims its appeal. Our house has been a work in progress since the day we closed: 6 July. It is now 9 August and it is still a work in progress. It is impossible to look at what has been accomplished when the mess of what there is still to do is everywhere. Hopefully, when God looks at me, He looks more closely at what’s been accomplished than at the mess of what there is still to do. I was a bit of a mess today. I had the kids ready to go to Walmart to buy school supplies at 0930. The workman had informed me that he would be here at 1000. He arrived at 1345. I knew that the timing was now all wrong, but I insisted on driving on with the mission. So to Walmart I went with a 3 year old in need of a nap and a confusing list of school supplies. Why must there always be something on the list that says: “Spiral bound sketch pad 9 x 12″, and on the shelf your choices are 1. a spiral bound sketch pad 8 1/2 x 11 or 2. a regular sketch pad 9 x 12. When neither choice is the correct choice, what do you do? Me? I stand there glaring at the shelves in the hope that if I get mad enough a “Spiral bound sketch pad 9x 12″ will suddenly appear. Soon Josiah was pushing an overloaded cart with a noisy wheel behind me down aisle after aisle. I finally told him to wait at the center display while I searched the 4 hardware aisles for something else. I told Gabe to just stand there with him. By the time I got back Gabe was crying hysterically. He had gotten his elbow jammed in the cart and had pinched and bruised his skin. I’m trying to be the concerned mother and all I can think is “can’t you just stand there?”, full well knowing that no, he can’t just stand there. Zeke is now crying as well and I decide that our shopping day is done whether or not we have everything on the list. I got home, put Zeke to bed and realized my personal renovation never seems to be done either.