So, I painted my half bathroom. The desire to give it a makeover was in part due to the personal pressures I’ve self-imposed to make the most of each day, but was mostly because the silly little command hook I had holding up a decorative, framed artistic piece proved its weakness over time. Yes, when the hook gave way, the lightweight metal, square pointy-edged thing took a hearty chunk out of the drywall and floorboard trim that was simply too noticeable when “sitting” in the bathroom (if you know what I mean). And, well, painting a bathroom seemed much more productive than watching some show on TV that reminds me of the picture perfect love life I simply do not have right now but oh so wish I did.
On my laundry list of bad habits exists one that reared its ugly head for this “simple” plan I had. At least one person knows me as someone who dives head first into projects without taking a real assessment of what exactly the project entails.
“I’m going to paint the bathroom,” I thought. I convinced myself that it would be quick; after all, it’s a small bathroom about the width of a couple of paces. What’s so hard?
How I had quick regrets once I realized the full scope of this “half size” bathroom that granted me no reprieve for “prepping my work area.” My overzealous mind thought the only prep I’d have to do was settle on paint, find the left over materials scattered about the basement and garage, and choose a good audio book to double my productivity.
Oh, how my mind played tricks on me. Sigh.
What I really had to do to prep was remove:
- The oversized, frameless builder-grade mirror that rivaled my 6 year old daughter in weight.
- A faux wooden, above-toilet, cabinet secured by two screws that were perfectly designed for aesthetics. However, that meant the electric screw gun wasn’t lean enough to shimmy its way where it needed to go to reach the screws.
- A builder-grade light fixture that required I fumble around in the fuse box to turn the power off before I could even begin to disable the chaos of wires that existed behind such a confined space.
And last but not least,
- The toilet tank, whose placement all of a sudden seemed unnecessarily close to the wall. I thought I could con my way through this one by purchasing the smallest paint roller known to man and wrap the tank in a garbage bag. But, no. Just no. The tank had to come off. And, at 35 years old, I can finally cross that event off my bucket list. Yippee.
Fast forward.
I successfully painted the bathroom! I’ll save you the details of the more work that applying a little touch up paint to the ceiling to hide my oopsies caused. It was supposed to be my last step before I high-fived myself on a job well done. The problem was that it was NOT the right paint color. I mean, the ceiling in the bathroom should have matched the color of all the other ceilings in the house. But it didn’t. More proof that when it rains it pours, I guess.
But, it’s painted. All four walls and ceiling. Two lustrous coats of fresh rolled paint. And the most beautiful part of all is this week, God gave me the patience I needed (although it DID waver at certain moments). And, He gave me a steady hand to create straight (and extraordinary, if I do say so myself!) edges between the dual-colored walls and the ceiling. I’m pretty sure Chip or Joanna (maybe both!) would be impressed. Yes, I went fancy. I decided to cut in an accent wall for a little extra pizazz because my pride got the best of me.
Ugh, pride.
It told me painting four walls the same color wasn’t challenging enough – too simple, anyone could do it. And in my current journey, which I am tirelessly trying to embrace, I am on a quest to prove that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). And impossible it wasn’t.
God provided exactly what was required. The right people crossed my path at just the right time to help remove the mirror and wall cabinet. The patience. An artistic eye for selecting well-coordinated paint colors. And a really good book by my new favorite author, Lysa TerKeurst. God even arranged for the man of my dreams to willingly put the toilet tank back on for me when I was all done. Yes, He is that good! I mean, I gave it the good ‘ol college try. But then gave up troubleshooting the cause of a pesky leak when a good lookin’ guy agreed to do it instead.
Friends, keep making progress. Don’t allow the word “can’t” to exist within your vocabulary. In your valley of despair, focus on yourself instead of the world around you. Hide your clocks, too, so you’re not obsessed with how long it seems He is taking to answer your prayers. Remember, God is timeless. He is not confined to your timetable. God will answer when He thinks you are ready. That is, when He thinks you’ve improved your character flaws and learned the hard lessons He is trying to teach you. If He hasn’t answered, it’s because there is still work for you to do. Keep asking Him to reveal those things about yourself that can use some refining. And then get to work.
It won’t be easy. You’ll be inclined to want to take the eyes off yourself and place them onto the flaws of someone around you instead. At least I think you will because that’s what I find myself doing every now and again. It’s hard. I get it. But we have to focus inward before we focus outward.
With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
