Beginning

I spent my week beginning things. In order to reach completion of any task you have to start.

I started painting the kitchen cupboards. It looks like it will take 3 coats of paint to get the finish that I want. 

I put the drains pipes back in so I could install the toilet. But I needed the floor down under the toilet before I bolted it down.

I did not want the floor in the entire bathroom because I still had to tile the shower surround. I did not want to be cleaning thin set off a new floor. So I have the beginning of the bathroom floor in.

Then I put the tile around the shower. The tile may be up but it is just the start. It still needs to be grouted and sealed.

I installed the vanity top and faucet. Water and drains are hooked up. Now, I at least have a working sink in the house. But once again it is not finished. If you look close you can see that the paint needs to be touched up around the vanity top.

I hung the shelf over the base cabinets in the laundry room but that is still needing the counter top.. At least the shelf is no longer in my way, it is up on the wall so I can stop stumbling over it.

The plan is to paint the risers and spindles white and the stair treads brown. I have the first coat of what looks to me like 3 coats on the spindles and risers. I hate painting spindles. It is slow work and to have to do it at least 3 times is a bit of an insult.

I was down at Menards this week to pick up windows doors and flooring. While waiting for load out I saw written on the harness rack "Harnesses only". If you look you can see the extension cord and a crow bar hanging on the hooks. Looks like the employees have a problem following the rules.

I would like to say that it is just Menards employees that have a problem following the rules but I know that isn't in the least bit close to truth. 

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. On these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets. In this life we will never obey those 2 commandments perfectly. That is why Jesus had to pay for our not obeying, but we need to make a beginning on loving God and our neighbor. If we don't make a beginning we continue on in our sin and and are telling God we are not thankful for offering us eternal life.

So like the first coats of paint, the start of a floor, and ungrouted tile, my life has a ways to go before it is a "perfect finished product". I will only be a "perfect finished product" through Jesus sacrifice for me, but God calls me to make a beginning. A beginning like hanging up a shelf so I am no longer stumbling over it. There might be a few things in my life that I need to get out of my way.

If I ask God to help me clean some sins out of my life it will be beginning to loving God above everything and loving all my neighbors. Won't you join me in making a beginning?