Refining

I thought today would be a relatively straight-forward day. I would get up and begin painting the dresser drawers. Wrong. First I had to drill new holes for the handles. The drill bits I had were not the correct size so I had to go to the store to buy different ones. Then I had to fill in some of the newly-drilled holes that were not the correct size and wait for the putty to dry. Then I had to re-sand. And re-drill. Then the paint I was planning to use was so separated I couldn't mix it. Another run to the store for another gallon of paint. When I finally began painting it was so warm I thought I was going to melt. Guess what? One of the landscapers knocks on the window and asks if I can please close it because he is going to powerwash that side of the dorm. So there I am in an unventilated, stifling hot room - painting away. As I'm hunched over the drawer, sweaty, achy, stiff and miserable, I began thinking that maybe I would just never finish. There was too much to do and too little time. Being creative isn't all that it's cracked up to be. It's a lot of work, especially when nothing seems to be cooperating. Now, I'm not trying to turn this into a super spiritual soliloquy, but the thought did cross my mind that our Father must sure have a lot of patience. He's been working on me for a really long time and I'm a lot more uncooperative than these silly drawers. He doesn't give up. He keeps on sanding and painting and polishing and carving. He has the end product in mind. He knows it (I) will be perfect and beautiful upon completion.

So, to remind myself that progress IS being made, here are a couple of pictures showing what I did today.