- A long time coming, bur worth the wait.
My husband spent several days at home over the Christmas holiday working on a project we had talked about for years. He rented a jackhammer and removed a section of sidewalk in our entry that had crumbled beneath ice storms, too much rain, and lots of traffic.
The section of cement, shaped like a quarter of a circle with a radius of eleven feet, had seen too many winters when we purchased the home twenty years ago. Other tasks, though—like roofs, new windows, painting, toilets, water heaters, and hardwood floors, etc.—always seemed to receive priority when it came time for repairs.
I had given him a gift certificate for brick to replace the sidewalk one Christmas three years ago. It remained beneath a magnet on my refrigerator during that time, reminding me and him that the sidewalk still deteriorated and the gift certificate was aging.
Yesterday we visited the brick yard. To our surprise they still honored the gift certificate and we hauled home a quarter circle of decorative pavers. My husband had already purchased the sand and the weed stop fabric. With the hole already cleaned out, he anticipated laying the brick today.
This morning we woke to an outside temperature of 23°—not a good day to lay brick. But the sun came out, defrosted the front of the house, thawed the pile of sand, and grew warm on his back. The project moved steadily along. Completion will probably take a couple of free Saturdays, but we’re excited that this project is one we can finally scratch off our to-do list.
All of us resolve to do things of one kind or another, but life has a way of tripping us up and meddling with our plans. Resolutions are made, whether at the beginning of the year, or in the face of necessity, and shoved aside by circumstance, like the gift certificate under the refrigerator magnet. Then we wake to bad weather. Keeping sight of our goal becomes more and more difficult.
In Colossians 3:23 (NKJV) God’s word says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
Knowing this makes finishing the task even more important, doesn’t it?
A personal word to my readers—On New Year’s Eve, Word Press, my blog host sent me an analysis of my readership. I was pleasantly surprised to find my readers span the globe, from the United States to the United Kingdom and as far away as India.
Thanks to each one of you, whether you simply read the post, or you replied, either to me personally through e-mail or publicly on the blog itself. It is my prayer that reading my humble offering brightened your day and encouraged you in your life. God bless each one of you in 2013.