Prepping

I want to tell you something about my life right now and about a good thing I am learning in the midst of it.

I have no car as a result of "the accident," which has complicated life a bit. My parents require more of me than before, for matters ranging from doctor's appointments to taxes to food shopping. I got fed up with the chipped paint of the trim in the downstairs quarters, so I decided it was time for a makeover. My daughter is in the thick of high school senior college madness. I offered piano lessons to my grandson, and my son agreed, which takes care of my Mondays (delightfully, I might add).

The beneficial thing that is emerging from this is that I have learned how to be content to do little tasks toward the completion of a goal, when it is not possible to accomplish the goal entirely at once. I am acquiring the habit of prepping. I have made a great discovery-that there is value in doing small preparations toward a goal, rather than saying that I will not do anything since I cannot do everything.

So now I have a few projects "in progress"-and I am getting used to having several balls in the air. The living room furniture is displaced and covered with drop cloths. But I have gathered the sandpaper and paint cans and brushes and rags into one spot where I will be able to find them quickly next time I get a two-hour slot to slap the semi-gloss on the primer I put on last week.

I still have no car, but I have put out feelers to key people and have promising prospects. The financial aftershocks of the car accident are starting to hit, but all one can do, in any event, is the next thing that needs to be done. Besides, blizzard conditions are in some ways energizing. And they serve to remind you once again of "first things." That is, all overwhelming situations are "to make us rely not on ourselves but on God" (2 Corinthians 1:9).

Do not despise the day of small things. God is in them.