When Life Gives You Three Dog Runs. . .

Make a Picnic Pad!

When we bought this house we inherited a large 12 ft x 12 ft piece of cement in the back yard, it had separators in it to make 3 long cement-y areas. (Above is the best picture I could find of them as they are so ugly I always tried to avoid them in the background.) Good for nothing but a puddle collector that the girls have enjoyed splashing in. (Apparently few owners ago a K-9 police officer lived here and he put his dog kennels on them.)

For quite a few years we have said that we were going to put a shed on the spot and it seemed the perfect thing to do. We had a contractor come over this summer and talk about it with us. We got bids and planned to do it. But then we had second thoughts. We didn't have enough stuff to fill that big of a shed. We knew the rest of it would become a black hole for junk. Neither of us wanted that, so we opted to put the money into better shelving in our garage.

But something good came of that. . .the contractor said that for him to put a shed on the cement, he would have to fill the areas with cement to make them all level. (I thought perhaps they would shave some of it off to put a shed on it.) One day while out painting I saw how shady that area was and knew it would be a perfect place for a picnic table if we added more cement. So that's what we did. . . .

Now we're just awaiting the arrival of our hand-me-down picnic table. (that needs a good scrape job and some paint. . . .that will definitely not happen until NEXT summer!) Still not done with the fence. . . I wanted to have it done before school started, but we didn't quite make it. Squeezing it in now will be even more difficult, so it will probably be a couple more weeks. . .

Life Musings: Thoughts while Painting a Mural

There's lots of time to think while painting a mural. (Some designs are taking us a good 10-12 hours.) On some days my thoughts have wandered to connections of how life is like a mural. Here are a few musings:

1) While you are working on a mural, you can't always see progress or how it is coming together to make a nice piece of work. A lot of it is tedious work and you can't see how the colors, lines and shapes are coming together. Unless you physically step back, you can't judge if your angles are right or if your lines are creating the image correctly or if your colors are off. Stepping back is vital in creating a good design.

I spend a lot of time in life with to-do lists, problems, frustrations etc. in the forefront of my vision. Viewing life through that kind of perspective is tedious and tiring. I can't see immediate progress: how each day, each choice for good and my small steps of improvement are working together to create a something valuable. If I step back and look at things from a wide perspective, I can endure and even enjoy the tedious and mundane because I can see how they are working together to create a larger meaningful experience.

2) Often the wood on the fence is rough, weathered or scarred. This requires you to slow your work down considerably to make sure you stay within the guidelines. Other times you make a little mistake; you drip paint or slip, causing your paint to go in the wrong direction. While it takes time to correct, those drips and other mistakes are correctable. Wrong turns are easy to paint over unless you've really gone off track and then correcting the mistakes takes much more effort. But fixing mistakes, big or small, is always possible.

There are bumps in my road. I have many, many weaknesses and sometimes my progress is so much slower than I'd like, but as long as I follow the guidelines set out (scriptures/prophets) those bumps, bruises and scars are just tests to see if I can stay on the path. And when I make a mistake, I can repent. Sometimes that takes more effort than others, but it is always possible.

3) As I've turned around to look at the kids' murals I'm ALWAYS impressed. From a distance it doesn't matter if they've got crooked lines or dripping paint, it still looks good to me. When they complain about some of the problems they are having, I can't see them unless I go closer. And even when I go for a closer inspection, I still remember how good it looked from a distance and I can give positive encouragement.

I often view other people from a distant perspective and I see the good they do or the talents they have. Yet up close and personal they are struggling with bumps, frustrations and weaknesses, the same as me. I need to be cautious to not make comparisons between others and myself. I am seeing my life up close with shortcomings and weaknesses glaring at me while I see other at a distance, gracefully becoming a beautiful painting. Comparing is not valuable. It wastes time and never gives me any good results. As I get to know others

well enough to see their struggles, I still remember the big picture of their goodness and strengths and talents. Giving encouragement and reassurance is vital.

4) A fence has a lot of gaps. You don't really notice them and most of them you can't see through. Even when there is a wider gap, you can't see through it unless you get close and physically change the focus of your eyes. But when you get close enough to look through you can see small glimpses of the other side. It's not a very big picture, but it is enough to see beauty on the other side.

Often I need to see beyond my own vision. I need assurance. I need to understand my purpose better. When I am given small glimpses, it is not a panoramic view. But it is just enough to reassure me, give me hope or knowledge and insight to send me in the right direction. In order to ensure that I can experience the things 'beyond', I need to take opportunities to peep through the 'gaps' (putting myself in places and positions of personal revelation) and change my focus from here and now and take advantage when the views or glimpses given to me.

As I work and pray everyday, take small steps, even incremental at times, correct my mistakes and learn from my experiences, my life is pieced together to create something meaningful. As Tessa has been reminding me: "You can't rush art." (a line from Toy Story 2) Beautiful things take time and you can't rush them. Patience is a virtue while painting murals and living life.

The small print says: Let the Holy Spirit guard. Let His whisper govern choice. He will lead us safely home, if we listen to his voice. (I thought I resized the picture so you can click on it and see it larger, but I can't get it working for me, hopefully it works for you.)