My Bold Summer Project
I have a summer story to share… I bought a house last year that had a sad exterior.
It was blah color, and I planned to deal with that this year. I made no big travel plans, just a summer of painting as I could and when I could. As a frame of reference, this was a project that I had tackled ten years ago at my last house.
This summer northeast America was hot. Extreme heat with air quality issues tossed in. It just was not conducive to spending time out of doors. That wasn’t much a of a hinderance for me because I’m and early riser and those morning hours were definitely best time to be outside when you’re talking sweat equity.
I had decided to tackle the backyard first, because if it was going to be too much work I’d hire someone to finish the job. And if the color I selected was too bold, no one would know I had messed up.
I’d slip out of the house around 6 AM and work until the sun got hot. And on some days, I’d head out again later in the day and get another couple of hours in. It worked great. I loved the color. The problem I discovered was that I also do the majority of my writing during these wee hours of the morning. My house project which took energy became a priority and my writing was a mere blip in my week.
A little back story: this writing journey that I’m on, initially began as something that allowed me to have adult thoughts while raising my brood of seven. Life was busy and writing kept me pondering the truths of life. And now, writing has become my calling. You see, the novel I wrote came from a dream I had. And I was impressed that I needed to write that dream as a scene in a book. Something that I had never done before. It took about ten years to bring that dream into reality. And I can talk more about my novel at another time, but my writing has now become My assignment. My focus.
So now back to my house painting. I would get up early as was my custom, spend my normal quiet devotional time and then I felt free to go get my house project done. Somewhere in the middle of week two I felt niggles of concern that I wasn’t writing and posting on my blog page regularly. And that the devotional book I had been compiling had fallen to the wayside. But my house project had to be a priority because it had a time limit, the weather would soon change.
But I wrote the novel because I had been impressed to write it. My new house color wasn’t an impression, just a personal desire. And normally I have lots of things I fit into my day while mostly staying on task.
So, when I was confronted by that voice of concern. I confess I hadn’t been listening well. That day I paused, and I asked if I should go out and paint because it’s morning. I didn’t get a yes, so I sat in my chair and did some writing work.
And this is the encouragement I received: later in the day as the sun began to get low in the sky, I thought about painting again and there was no niggle of concern this time. I ran out and I finished about twice as much work in a short amount of time. I was blessed in the obedience of waiting.
I wondered how many times my desires had taken precedent over what my higher calling would be. I honestly don’t want to consider or even answer that one. I’ll just say this I got my house painted much faster when I got my priorities straight.
The scripture that comes to mind that I’m taking poetic license with today is seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added. You can read the exact wording in Matt 6:33.
Yes, my house is a beautiful new color. The summer has ended, and the beauty of fall is here and uh oh, I have camera in my hand. I’m working hard to stay in my writing brain. I hope this will encourage you to join me in trying to keep a right focus. We’ll both be blessed when we do.
Drop me a note if you like the new color!
Be blessed and be a blessing.
~Debbie G
#SummerProject2025 #BlessedInTheWaiting #rightfocus
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33