I’ll never forget when my friend first began attending our church. As she walked down the halls, she noticed our bulletin boards were outdated or broken. Many walls and windows needed painting or repair. The carpet was gross. Signage was practically non-existent. There was no church directory to help recognize faces and learn names. And the list could go on and on.
Much like going nose-blind, it’s easy to become so well acquainted with the appearance of something that we fail to recognize the need for improvement.
We are facing the same struggle in our home. Even though we’ve been in the house for seven months, we moved into an unfinished house. At first, the trim-less gaps stared me down every waking second, beckoning me to labor continuously. Every weekend after we moved in, we pushed hard to finish.
But as the weeks turned into months, I found myself becoming comfortable with the unfinished. I don’t notice the missing floor trim. Or the missing bar-top in my kitchen. Or the doors that still are not in place. And the list could go on and on.
This weekend we worked hard to complete the trim in my office area. We also finished my reading nook area and hung the office door. There is still much to do to say the office is done, but checking some areas off the list was encouraging.
Most of the time, I have to fight the tired voice inside that whispers, Oh, that’s good enough. Or sometimes that voice rises up and says, What’s it matter, anyway? Nobody else will ever know. This voice could convince me to stop before we finish. To give up and give in to a partially done dream house.
But I can’t become comfortable with the unfinished—in my house or in my life. So many of my emotions were put on hold during the building of this house, and just like I can’t neglect to finish the house, I can’t neglect addressing these emotions that are now rising to the surface.
If we become blind to the unfinished, the project is never completed. The holes are never covered. The picture never perfected.
Let’s take a look at our lives and places we frequent this week. What things have we become so comfortable with that we have allowed them to go unfinished?
I’d love to hear from you and know what you found that needs a bit of tender loving care.
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Unfinished –
Hey Christie. Been reading and enjoying your weekly blog. Funny you should mention the unfinished. The last 3 years Jacob and I have been in survival mode, having been thrown unexpectedly into parenthood with 3 weeks notice before Audrey was born and then finding out I was 5 weeks pregnant 3 days after we brought Audrey home. Jacob and I have let a lot of things slide in our life (our health, our home, etc) just so we could survive. Last month Jacob and I had about our first argument in probably 2 years because we were just to exhausted to argue. But there have been some things in our marriage that we haven’t even talked about or mentioned, even though they bothered us, but were to exhausted to bring it up. But now that things are balancing out some and slowly easing out of survival, we’ve got some mending to do in our relationships, marriage, and so forth. So, this word is so true. Now trying to not ignore things that are a problem and to stop and deal with them. Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom.
I almost texted you yesterday, but the day became distracting. Thank you for sharing the things that are going on in your life. I’m so glad God used this to reach you, sister. Keep working on things. Life does get easier as you go and as the kids get older. Two littles that close together is exhausting, but God already knew. Love you, friend.