Recently, the Northwest corner of the state of Alabama was hit with what folks were calling Snowmaggedon 2021!  I can’t remember the last time we got that much snow, but it sure kept me inside my heated home sporting my stretchy pants, thick socks, and a large comfy sweatshirt for a solid week. With area schools being closed and a free pass from my job as a high school counselor, I was bound and determined to be productive with my out of the ordinary down time.  I opened the door of my utility room to put on a load of clothes, and those dingy, boring walls were screaming “paint me, paint me”. I had recently placed painting the utility room on my home improvement “to do” list so I had already purchased a gallon of paint and the necessary paint supplies to have waiting on me to commit to the dreaded task. With icey roads keeping me inside, I knew it was the perfect time to get this done. So began my first step of using the brush to cut in the room and paint everywhere I couldn’t use a roller brush.  You know those wire shelving units that are used in a lot of utility rooms and closets ?  Well this room had two of these shelves, and they were both a dirty white and begging to be freshly painted. It didn’t take long to find myself having to muster up my hard to find patience in order to carefully cover each part of the wire shelf with my paint, making sure that I didn’t have so much paint on my brush that it would cause gobs of paint left to dry in mounds as well as lots of dripping all over the place creating a huge mess. Needless to say, things were going much slower than my liking for sure. There were several times during all this that I questioned why I had made the decision to touch my brush full of paint to these two shelves in the first place, but there was no turning back now.  So I began to encourage myself with self talk, taking it one small section at a time until I could step back and admire the difference that a fresh coat of paint did for these shelves and to the room.  I knew If I got in a hurry, all I would have would be a mess of globs and drips. There were a few times that I did get in a hurry causing me to have to stop and clean up my mess, and each time this happened, it didn’t take me long to realize I had no other choice but to be patient in order to get the result I wanted.  This lesson in a paint job is a good metaphor to use when it comes to trusting God with our lives.  We have this picture in mind of where we are headed with our lives, but in order to get there, we must be willing to be patient, waiting on God to direct each of our steps.  Every time we get in a hurry and try to cut corners because of impatience, we can end up making a big mess of the perfect plan He has for each of us.. I hate having to admit it, but there have been so many times in my life where I created a big mess for myself because I didn’t consult God with my decisions thinking that I could handle things on my own.  I really thought I had things figured out and could just invite God in on my progress somewhere down the road. Fortunately, because of His never-ending grace and mercy, He didn’t give up on me.  And he hasn’t given up on you either.  A life that gives us the desires of our hearts can only be found by intentionally and continually asking for God’s guidance and direction for every step we take.  We can’t lose patience with Him and His timing for us by cutting corners and taking shortcuts.  There will be times we may not want or understand the direction He is taking us, but we must let Him lead the way. He promises us that If we choose to wait on Him and his perfect timing, we will find a life filled with more joy and peace than we could ever have found without Him.   

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9