Construction
As I've gone through this process of remodeling our house and finishing the basement, I've come to a major revelation: doing things right takes TONS of time and patience.
From the framing: making sure it's all straight, the studs are spaced correctly, and it's assembled sturdily and the way it should be (not in the wrong places...). To the lengthy process of sheetrocking: making sure it all fits together right (no huge gaps between pieces), doesn't have visible seams, and is smooth enough that paint won't make it look horrible. And that's skipping the easy part: laying out and wiring for cable, phone, network, and electrical systems (the plus side to having been an electrician and the cable guy). Regardless of how easy, it takes forever to get the whole thing done! As I moved out and 1.5 hours away, I can't just hop in for a few hours worth of work and leave. I have to make it a couple day ordeal every time.
This weekend I was there mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and, well, I think you get the point. I hate taking forever to do something, especially when I can see the end so much more clearly now than I had previously. Things in the basement are almost done, but still SO far away from actually being done.
The application I'm drawing from this is threefold (meaning that there are three lessons for those of you who don't hablo the churchy lingo):
1. Thinking and knowing are easy, doing takes A LOT more to pull off.
2. Things always take A LOT longer than you plan for.
3. Even if it would save time, the easy way out leads to consequences...
This so parallels the spiritual world we partially inhabit. We look at things and think it'd be easy to accomplish then find out it's harder and takes much longer than we thought (developing a habit like reading the Bible, memorizing Bible verses, prayer, tithing, serving in the church, etc.). It's at this point we look for the easy way out: "Yeah, I promised God I'd spend time with Him in the Bible every morning, but I'm tired and I get a quick e-mail devotional sent to my phone, that counts, right?" Instead of taking that easy route, we need to have the chutzpa to take the long road and do things right. Just like I've spent way longer sanding and mudding my sheetrock so I can paint, it will look much better in the end and be more appealing to a prospective buyer than a shoddily done "quick" way. Just like shortchanging God some time here for more sleep, eventually we come to find we aren't spending time with Him at all, not even the minute or so it takes to read "The Word on the Way" or something similar with a couple of lines of thought and one verse.
Everytime we look at and take the "easy way" we begin down a treacherous, mountainy slope that is covered with ice. We may not see the ice at first, but pretty soon we hit it and slide out of control, winding up at the bottom...
So, my challenge to anyone who's listening is: don't take the easy way out, it looks great but doesn't fulfill in the end... Besides, who wants to buy a house with lousy workmanship?
From the framing: making sure it's all straight, the studs are spaced correctly, and it's assembled sturdily and the way it should be (not in the wrong places...). To the lengthy process of sheetrocking: making sure it all fits together right (no huge gaps between pieces), doesn't have visible seams, and is smooth enough that paint won't make it look horrible. And that's skipping the easy part: laying out and wiring for cable, phone, network, and electrical systems (the plus side to having been an electrician and the cable guy). Regardless of how easy, it takes forever to get the whole thing done! As I moved out and 1.5 hours away, I can't just hop in for a few hours worth of work and leave. I have to make it a couple day ordeal every time.
This weekend I was there mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and, well, I think you get the point. I hate taking forever to do something, especially when I can see the end so much more clearly now than I had previously. Things in the basement are almost done, but still SO far away from actually being done.
The application I'm drawing from this is threefold (meaning that there are three lessons for those of you who don't hablo the churchy lingo):
1. Thinking and knowing are easy, doing takes A LOT more to pull off.
2. Things always take A LOT longer than you plan for.
3. Even if it would save time, the easy way out leads to consequences...
This so parallels the spiritual world we partially inhabit. We look at things and think it'd be easy to accomplish then find out it's harder and takes much longer than we thought (developing a habit like reading the Bible, memorizing Bible verses, prayer, tithing, serving in the church, etc.). It's at this point we look for the easy way out: "Yeah, I promised God I'd spend time with Him in the Bible every morning, but I'm tired and I get a quick e-mail devotional sent to my phone, that counts, right?" Instead of taking that easy route, we need to have the chutzpa to take the long road and do things right. Just like I've spent way longer sanding and mudding my sheetrock so I can paint, it will look much better in the end and be more appealing to a prospective buyer than a shoddily done "quick" way. Just like shortchanging God some time here for more sleep, eventually we come to find we aren't spending time with Him at all, not even the minute or so it takes to read "The Word on the Way" or something similar with a couple of lines of thought and one verse.
Everytime we look at and take the "easy way" we begin down a treacherous, mountainy slope that is covered with ice. We may not see the ice at first, but pretty soon we hit it and slide out of control, winding up at the bottom...
So, my challenge to anyone who's listening is: don't take the easy way out, it looks great but doesn't fulfill in the end... Besides, who wants to buy a house with lousy workmanship?
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