Do it well

 

We bought a piano for Matthew many years ago. It has been stitting in our living room unused except by the garndchidren who find great joy in pounding on the keys. Oh, the lovely sound it makes to their ears. I know we are called to make a joyful noise but still, oh, the pain it brings to my ears.

Friday both Matthew and Micah were at our house for lunch. We loaded out the piano to go to Matthew's house where it will be played and used to make music, not just noise. When I was a boy many long years ago, my sisters and I took piano lessons. I did learn the basics, but I spent most of the practice time lying on the piano bench watching the clock slowly move till the half hour practice time was over.

My parents were adamant that every child needed to learn a musical instrument. I asked if I could learn to play the guitar instead. They bought me a guitar and a year later bought me an electric guitar with an amp. A few years back I looked up what it would cost to replace that guitar and amp I sold cheap in the 80s. Well, my parents bought me that set and it became known as a quality guitar and amp. I decided about $15,000 to buy the set back was out of my price range. I was injured in a farm accident when I was 15 years old and have permant nerve damage in my right hand. I had to relearn to play the guitar, but as with most damage we do to our bodies when we are young, it gets worse with age. I tried to pick up the guitar a couple years ago and I could not pluck the strings well anymore. I gave up instead of getting a pick and settling for just strumming the chords. I wanted to play well instead of just "strumming" the chords. That was probably a mistake, in a quest to do it well, I made my life smaller.

We are cleaning up a house now where it seems the tenant had no ability to do things well and he did not ask for help. We do not allow tenants to do electrical, plumbing repairs, or paint. It seldom turns out well. Just call us, we'll fix it. In the picture above we found he had removed an outlet and left the box open with small children in the house. That is a real danger of electrical shock and maybe even death. Do it well or don't do it is really important in electrical work.

Sometimes doing it well is in the eye of the beholder. He painted a couple of the rooms a very dark grey. It made the house seem so dark. I chose a much lighter grey and repainted the whole interior.

I realize there is a difference in brushes and I buy good cut brushes, but still wouldn't one know they are not doing the job well when you simply paint an inch in on the cupboards. Give me a break and don't paint our house if that is the best you can do.

In this picture I have the wall painted the new grey, because the blue he painted was full of holes and scratches. Once again, it's not that hard to cut in paint along a ceiling and do the job well. Either do it well or don't do it.

Another house we are working on, that we just purchased, is called Wildflower Cottage. Seems like a cute name until you find out the reason she named the house. Years ago the city officials were citing her for not mowing her lawn and keeping the broken tree branches cleaned up. She named the house "Wildflower Cottage" and offered to sue the city if they made her do upkeep on the lawn because it was wildflowers. No, it was just weeds and now there is no grass after we mowed off the weeds, just dirt which will be mud when it rains. She did not care for her lawn at all, let alone do it well.

Life is generally better if you do things well intead of just the minimum.People will respect you if you do things well. Your finances will be in better shape if you do things well. Your health will be better if you do things well. Serve God well and not just the minimum and you will live with joy.