Enjoying the Deck Grandpa Stained.

In the North East, summer and fall are times to fix and refurbish our belongings and time to finish projects before the chill of winter. My husband and pastor saw a need for our decks to be re-stained. He saw the wearing that was taking place and noticed some annoying mold that kept reappearing.

Before staining, the wood needed to be bleached to remove the mold. We hired someone to power wash our deck and thought the job was complete but the keen eyes of my husband noticed more of the pesky mold. My hard working guy went and bleached it again and began the huge job of staining it. “If you’re going to do it, do it right…”

Well, recently my husband stated he noticed the top rails were splintering on the bottom deck, he asked my opinion, and I said, why make more work for yourself, just paint it and be done. My husband and pastor explained when the grandkids come over they might get a splinter…So you guessed it; he removed all the old top rails to replace them.

After thinking a bit, I had been hopping over those rails for years now and replacing them would ensure I wouldn’t get a splinter in my backside. He even removed a section of rails so a walk to the swing set would be easier. Good idea! “If you’re going to do it, do it right…”

My maintenance minded hubby sees chipping and peeling and acts on the statement, “If you’re going to do it, do it right…” Well, over the years our little family has not been so chipper but quite annoyed by this man of excellence because he would try to rally all of us to help out. I guess he wanted some companionship and the old saying applies, “many hands make light work”. None of us really appreciated the hard work needed that would help preserve the goodness of the object and the use of it that we all enjoyed.

Some people think ahead and see the big picture and others of us just want to make things nice and easy. Some of us want to get it right and are willing to do the hard work and others just don’t care or don’t see the importance.

You will see now why I had to include that my husband is also a pastor, my pastor. His desire to preserve relationships is just as important to him as a well maintained home. He is an example to me of forbearance, longsuffering and grace. He sees a need to communicate with others and to try to preserve the relationships of those that may not agree or vehemently oppose him. He diligently seeks to clear the air and some of us may feel cornered or intimidated by such honesty. I have found that these reactions often come because we don’t know how to share our feelings or don’t know how to explain them. My friend has a real knack for sharing feelings and communicating, sometimes he amazes me.

My husband and pastor will be the first to agree, he is not perfect in reaction, he is not perfect in motive and that he does not love perfectly.  Do any of us? But as the pastor’s wife I see him seek to make things right, seek to understand if he has hurt someone, asks for forgiveness and extends bushels of grace.

We can all learn by his example to restore and preserve what is good, to make sure the mold doesn’t grow and later destroy the goodness. Sad but true there might be some deterioration that seems irreparable for the moment. Splintery planks that are no longer playfully jumped over and unsupportive may need to be changed.

Let us all strive to follow in the footsteps of “The Perfect One”.  Let us strive to make things right if we can, to endeavor to keep things clear between brother and sister and to preserve the Godly goodness. If we are going to do it, by God’s grace, let’s do it right…

Hope you had a wonderful Labor Day, labor in love and have a great school year.

Dawn

Colossians 3: 23 New Century Version

²³ In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. 

Romans 12:9-18 New International Version

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

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