“Painting things over” is a metaphor for disguising defects to create the false impression things are better than they really are.
Having spent the weekend painting the upstairs and downstairs halls, the foyer, the stairway and half the living room, I know there is something good to be said for a fresh coat of paint (in this case, two gallons of "Oregon Coast" from Lowe's).
Before you can paint, you have to clean up, get rid of the cobwebs in the corner you've been ignoring, and remove the clutter to make space to paint. Pictures hung in sometimes haphazard fashion come down for rehanging later, and the nail holes are patched with spackling.
When you’re finished, everything looks fresh and new, with a splash of color to dress up the former plain-Jane eggshell white.
Your back may hurt a bit, but the sense of accomplishment makes up for that. Instead of continuing to look past the scuff marks from where one of the kids threw shoes up the stairs, the black scrape from when something got banged into the wall, and all the rest of it, we rolled up our sleeves and did something to brighten up the old homestead.
I guess that’s as good an explanation as any for the purpose of this blog.
Good start! Plenty more to do...painting AND blogging, that is!
ReplyDeleteCarol
Wow! That woman never misses a beat. And a great sense Prairie Anglican sense of humor; you are a lucky guy! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for doing this, Mike. I checked out the Pray as You Go tab and really enjoyed it. Looking for evidence of God working in my life on a daily basis, on an "at the moment basis" has always been hard me. I seem to have so many filters set up that prevent me from seeing or even cause me to discount what I am seeing. And I can see that I am going to have to proof read my posts a lot more closely.
ReplyDeleteI think God is always at work in our daily lives, Dana. We're just too busy and worried about our own agendas to notice. (G)
ReplyDeleteSteve and I both like your new endeavor. ---Bobette M.
ReplyDeleteSo I took the food left over from the Annual meeting to the Rescue Mission Sunday afternoon. One of my friends was staying there and we talked for about 45 minutes. He told me about the different church groups that come to the mission in the evenings to serve food and "give a message". He said the most effective ones, were the ones where men from the church came and served the meal and then sat down at the tables with the residents. He said just eating with them and asking "how are you doing" or "what do you need" made greater impact than standing up and preaching to them while they eat. Interesting idea isn't it....get some guys to together, cook something up, take it down there and eat and talk with those men maybe once a month. I wonder if anyone elso might be interested in doing that? And is this appropriate for your blog?
ReplyDeleteGood idea. Let's discuss when we have lunch (G!!!) and get the ball rolling. It struck me that anytime we have a special meal we should make an effort to invite somebody from the high rise or outside the church to join us. I think there's a boarding house across the street from the Methodist church. Maybe we could make a contact there? I always see guys sitting outside Sunday morning, smoking cigarettes. Maybe it's some kind of halfway house?
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