Today I took a class in laying tile at Home Depot. After I close on my new house next week, my first project is to renovate the kitchen. Yes, I'm doing most of the work myself. No, I've never done it before. But just because I've never done something before doesn't mean that I can't. I've successfully accomplished countless firsts in my life. And I've committed equally as many blunders, none of which were life-ending for me or anyone else. In fact, I'm better because of them. So, I'm educating myself, talking to professionals, reading how-to articles and watching how-to videos, and I'm ready to get started.
When I hit my first glitch, which I almost certainly will, I'm going to remember a story I heard in my class today. A woman attended the same class a while ago, and informed the instructor that she was going to redo her kitchen herself and she wanted to learn all she could so that she'd do a good job. She said that she'd never done anything like this before, but didn't see why she couldn't do it. Several weeks later, the woman returned to the store with pictures of her new kitchen. The instructor, having over 30 years of experience in tiling, said that she had done a wonderful job and her kitchen looked as if she'd hired a professional or done many kitchens before.
What's so amazing about this story is that the woman was 90 years old! My first thought was "Wow, I'd really like to meet this woman and have her show me her kitchen." I was so inspired by her courage, her tenacity and her energy to take on a project of this magnitude. But perhaps more importantly, I was struck by the fact that she could have easily decided that she'd lived all her life without the kitchen of her dreams, and she wasn't going to live much longer anyway, so it would be senseless to "waste" the money, time and effort on creating a new kitchen. That's exactly what I think most people would have concluded under the circumstances. This woman, bless her heart, gives new meaning to living a full life and following your dreams, wherever they may lead.
I've been thinking about that woman all afternoon and God's mandate to me is clear. If that 90-year-old woman can not only redo her own kitchen, but do a beautiful job at it, what excuse could you possibly come up with for not doing yours? I'm starting on Saturday.
When I hit my first glitch, which I almost certainly will, I'm going to remember a story I heard in my class today. A woman attended the same class a while ago, and informed the instructor that she was going to redo her kitchen herself and she wanted to learn all she could so that she'd do a good job. She said that she'd never done anything like this before, but didn't see why she couldn't do it. Several weeks later, the woman returned to the store with pictures of her new kitchen. The instructor, having over 30 years of experience in tiling, said that she had done a wonderful job and her kitchen looked as if she'd hired a professional or done many kitchens before.
What's so amazing about this story is that the woman was 90 years old! My first thought was "Wow, I'd really like to meet this woman and have her show me her kitchen." I was so inspired by her courage, her tenacity and her energy to take on a project of this magnitude. But perhaps more importantly, I was struck by the fact that she could have easily decided that she'd lived all her life without the kitchen of her dreams, and she wasn't going to live much longer anyway, so it would be senseless to "waste" the money, time and effort on creating a new kitchen. That's exactly what I think most people would have concluded under the circumstances. This woman, bless her heart, gives new meaning to living a full life and following your dreams, wherever they may lead.
I've been thinking about that woman all afternoon and God's mandate to me is clear. If that 90-year-old woman can not only redo her own kitchen, but do a beautiful job at it, what excuse could you possibly come up with for not doing yours? I'm starting on Saturday.
1 comments:
Great post! That story about the 90 year old woman could be an inspiration to us all!
Post a Comment