It Is Finished...Well, Almost!

Have you ever decided that you are going to start a project that you are really excited about? One that you can invision in your mind what it will look like when it is finished? I have and this weekend was one of those times.

I have been wanting to redecorate our bedroom, not that it wasn't pretty before but it had began to feel like a dungon. The darker taupe walls and dark bedding were beginning to feel more like a cave than a relaxing, refreshing room where you go to re-entergize and re-connect with you spouse (if you know what I mean). I'm sure that cave people were romantic...in their own way but I wanted something more for me and my hubby. I was seeing more in the way of "spa like".

I had a vision of what I wanted over a year ago and hadn't been able to find it until last week. I went everywhere that sold bedding in Memphis except one place because I ran out of time. I had to get back to pick up football boys from practice and so...I skipped Kohl's. I had looked there numerous times and found nothing. I knew that I would be going to Southaven the following Thursday when I ran to our office to pick up my work and paycheck...I would stop by that one then. I went home and checked online instead....hmmmm...this looks like something that might work...I thought but pictures in a book and on the internet can be deceiving.

I ran in Kohl's on Thursday afternoon and lo and behold...there it was. It was so close to what I had invisioned...plus...it was 55% off!!! *screaming with excitement again*. I was able to buy all the pieces for our bed for less than what the comforter, shams and bedskirt would have normally cost.

Now, the problem with the paint began. I couldn't find any paint that was the exact color that I wanted and it matched my bedding. I haven't ever had a hard time picking paint but because I was matching it...I decided to buy the sample paints and try them out.

Picture in your mind...the head of our bed with 3 large squares of paint in different shades of blue painted on the wall. Each color on the color card looked like it would work. One on the right was a perfect match (card to pillow), the one in the middle looked like it would match and be soothing and the one on the right was a near match but with more blue than gray tones. I called one friend to come over because I needed a extra pair of eyes. She and I liked the lighter one (middle) but one of the darkers ones matched the best. I was afraid the darker one would be too overpowering when all the walls were painted.

I looked and looked at it...with the overhead light on, the lamps on, with all of them on, the blinds open, the blinds closed and still couldn't decide. I would think I knew which one would be right until I walked through there again.

So, I called another friend to stop by on her way home. She did and she said that she normally would go with the 3rd shade down on the paint card (she helped me pick the sample before buying any paint to begin with) but she thought it was too light. Neither one of us could believe that the lightest one was the same one we had picked out earlier. She liked the one on the right and so did Roger.

I sent Roger back to the paint store Saturday morning to get the lighter paint sample...one shade darker to see if it would be better. It wasn't. Roger was pushing me to decide because we had a lot of painting to do over the weekend and it was not Saturday afternoon.

So...I jumped in with both feet, chose the one that Roger and Kelley picked. Let the painting begin at 3 PM Saturday afternoon. We moved furniture to the middle of the room and began. I do all the trimming and Roger does the rolling. We worked until 10 PM and quit for the night. We began again at 3 PM on Sunday afternoon and finished at 9:30 PM last night.

By the time we finished painting the walls and repainting all the white trim in the room, reassembling the bed and putting things back...I was nearly in tears because I was so tired and wanted to get finished with this project so bad.

All I have left to do in there is hang my new pictures, clean the carpets and buy a few more things to make it complete.

I was re-living all of this while drying my hair this morning (still so tired) and began to think about the planning of the project, steps it took to complete it, the time involved and the beauty of it all when it was finished.

God looks at each of us as a project in progress. We are never going to be perfect but we can be all that He wants us to be. He continually molds us, refines us by fire and gently leads us in the way that He wants us to go. He already sees the finished project...just like I saw the finished project of our bedroom.

The wonderful things is that God never gets tired of working on us. He is patient, kind, loving and forgiving throughout the process. Unlike me this weekend, He is never ready to quit, cut corners, sit down and cry because things are happening as fast as I wanted them to. There is so much that He wants to do with us and in us but we have to be willing vessels. Are you willing?

Philippians 1:6
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (Message)

Have a wonderfully blessed day!