I learned a few things this weekend from him....from my experience. I have been excited for Easter...for Spring. Right now the weather is beautiful here and all things are new and budding/blooming. I love it! As I pondered the newness of life I began to think about this new bathroom. It isn't a natural occurrence but is taking a fair amount of effort on my part. I thought about Christ's newness of life and how we all can have a newness of life through Him. We will all LIVE again because of His resurrection...which we celebrate today. But the newness of our spiritual lives takes effort....sometimes great effort on our part! But new it is....and worth it too!
I measured wrong! No matter how many times I have heard and preached the "measure twice, cut once" law, I messed up. We went to the store to get a tub surround. I wanted one with the LEAST number of edges to have to caulk and therefore may be prone to leakage. But the one I wanted was too big....at least according to my incorrect measurements. I just kept thinking that my tub can't be THAT out of whack. But....I didn't trust my gut, or allow myself to let me dad FIX it so it WOULD work. I resigned myself the the next best alternative. I wasn't super happy about it, but what could I do?
When we got back I found I had measured wrong. I was about to go back and return it and get the one I wanted. But didn't. I stewed for a bit inside, knocking myself up one side and down the other. I mentioned it to my dad and his comment was not one of "YOU MADE A BIG MISTAKE" but rather to not worry about it and make due with what we had. We COULD and WOULD make it work right....no matter the number of braces we needed to use to adhere it to the wall, no matter the pain in a the back side it was to level up the edges and top, etc.
I continued to fester inside a bit, but then realized he was right. It was a little mistake...nothing that couldn't be fixed and we shouldn't chide ourselves about it...that would take too much energy away from our project and ultimate goal.
Those are really all MY words to the experience. I really doubt he considered it a teaching moment on the Atonement, on forgiveness, or about this Easter weekend. But, that seems to be the way I learn best from my dad. Not by lengthy discourses full of eloquent words, but rather by experiences and example. I realized that ALL mistakes are just that....minor, usually, and can be rectified with a bit of effort to make it "new" and workable again. That is how the Savior would have it be. I felt love from my dad. And I can feel love from my Heavenly Father in situations requiring my EFFORTS in repentance too. And after all, the energy it takes to stew about mistakes, think about them over and over and over again, instead of just fixing them the way WE can, takes precious energy away from our ultimate goal....where it is HIM who fixes all things and makes it possible to live with our Father in Heaven again.
And so.....
I will spare you the gory details of our family bathroom and WHY we are renovating. We have wanted to since we moved in. One of the two sinks has been out of commition for a few years now. So, my dad flew in and we have begun....not quite finished but I'm excited for the end of this week when there will be a bathroom in the house OTHER than MINE!
Here are some pics.....
Stage 1....demolition (yeah, why on earth is an outlet that high in a bookshelf on the other wall?)
Stage 2....adding green board to glue the tub surround to
Stage 3....the counter top, minus the sink holes and sinks, and the shower braced and glue drying!
Can't wait for tomorrow to FINISH the sinks and tile the floor. Tuesday is grouting. Wednesday is putting the toilet back in. The best laid plans.......hope it goes sort of this way, anyhow!
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