painting

Since Mark’s parents were visiting, we had Evangeline sleeping in the boys’ room. Since all of her things are currently out of the room, I thought after Mark’s parents left would be a good time to paint. Yesterday, I thought it would be unlikely. But today I feel much better. I still have cold symptoms, but the achiness and completely wiped out feelings are gone. So I bit the bullet and headed to Wal Mart to buy paint. I took the kids along, and that made the trip longer than it might have been. By the time I was heading home, I thought I might not actually paint. The wimpy feelings were beginning to come over me. However, I took some generic version of Dayquil that worked remarkably well. I was thankful that I felt well enough to take on the painting job.

Now I am done. The paint has dried, and I’ve removed the tape from the baseboard and window trim. I am pleased with the results. The paint was a brighter shade of yellow than I thought I had picked, but I still like it. I have plans to add a stamp of a little flower at waist level around the room. Hopefully, I’ll get that done on Monday so Evangeline can move back in to her room.

I relate this because it is somewhat significant for me to be doing this project. Up until now, we have rented every house we have lived in, so I have never felt like I wanted to invest the time in adding personal touches to our homes. Where we are now is a manse, so it is not really ours either. And, of course, I have no idea how long we’ll be here. However, I have been convicted in the last year about the need to settle down, no matter where we are. One source of this conviction came in the form of a conversation a couple of years back that I haven’t been able to forget. An older woman friend, whose husband had been in the military in the early part of their marriage, told me that you have to make every place you go home–never look at it as temporary. I couldn’t forget the conversation, but I never took the advice to heart or put it into practice. Then last summer, I heard a speaker who talked about her life as a seminary wife when she and a friend there prayed the words of Psalm 37:3b “Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” She then went on to explain that she looked for ways to cultivate faithfulness wherever the Lord took her. So I began to pray that God would help me to “dwell in the land” and to “cultivate faithfulness” in Minco, OK. I feel like the Lord has answered that prayer by giving me more of a sense of peace about Mark’s call here than I had in his former church. I have also really made an effort to be settled here–to dwell in the land. I think that can go a long way with the people of our community if they don’t feel like Mark and I are always wondering where our next church will be. I know painting a bedroom is not that significant of an action, but I do feel like it is symbolic of the change of attitude the Lord has given me.