“Every day is fresh–with no mistakes in it”
Anne of Green Gables

Here it is, another lesson from Anne. One that teaches me patience.

I love a fresh coat of paint, and was gung-ho (is that really a word?!) to get my kitchen painted. The problem is, once I start, it’s hard for me to stop. I finished the kitchen with time and paint to spare…

A white fireplace needs a darker color to really make it “pop”, so I decided I’d make it a focal wall and paint it, too!

It’s only one wall. Looks great against the white. This was a no-brainer, right? I thought so–until I ran out of paint about halfway through. This wall seemed to be soaking up the paint, and with a dark color you can’t be skimping or you’ll have streaks…

Half-way through means that the trim was all finished, and I just needed to roll the rest. No problem. Go buy another can, come home and finish the job. A job I thought would be over and done with in one day.

Not always the way it works out for me…

After finishing up, cleaning up, and putting up all of my mess, I noticed that the new color looked slightly different from the old.
.

Surely this was just because it wasn’t completely dry yet…
NOPE. Next morning it was still there. Are you kidding me?! Same store, same paint, same mixture! What in the world?!

Back to the brushes… And a new color!

The truth is, the darker color was too dark and a little too gray anyway, so if the paint hadn’t been messed up, I probably would have just left it even though it wasn’t the right color. Since I had to repaint it anyway, my mistake allowed me to change to a color that matched the brick better–a color I already had in my garage from a previous paint job!

Here’s what I learned:
1). Don’t be afraid to try something new! If we live our lives under the shadow of fear, we will miss the blessings that are sure to come when we step out in faith.
2). Don’t forget to mix the old with the new. (That would have prevented the streaking!). Wow–a stark reminder for me that it’s the old (the past) that makes us who we are today. We can’t separate ourselves from our past, but we can learn from it!
3). Never settle–get it right. How often do we just “settle” in life because of fear or insecurity or maybe just laziness? Sometimes all it takes to make a change is a conscious decision to work until we get it right. If all we do is supposed to be “as unto The Lord”, then “settling” is less than God wants for us.

Maybe it’s your marriage that needs that kind of commitment. Maybe it’s your relationship with God. Maybe it’s your attitude! Whatever it is, excellence is always the better way. As my sweet father-in-law always said, “DO YOUR BEST AND GIVE GOD THE REST!”