True transformation requires some prep work.
Last week the school that I work in, had spring break. My hubby and I, used the time to paint our kitchen cabinets. It just so happened, that the week also marked thirteen years in our house, so an update was badly needed.
The cabinets were a dark oak finish and my first instinct was to slap some white paint on them as soon as possible to lighten everything up, but I had done my research, there was some prep work required.
The very first step was to clean the cabinets with a degreaser. While this seemed like a simple step, it turned out to be incredibly time consuming. I would spray the cabinets and wipe them with a cloth. An amazing amount of built up gunk would come off of them. This wasn’t that surprising.
But, what was surprising, was that after spraying them a second and third time, I was still getting dirt off of them and then there were the corners. I would spray and scrub and spray and scrub with a toothbrush. It took hours to get them ready for the next step.
It was tedious and boring work, yet totally necessary if I wanted to truly transform my cabinets. If I didn’t take the time to remove all of the old grease, the new paint, no matter how pretty, or different, or expensive, would never stick. It might stay on them for a little while, but with regular use, and let’s face it, kitchen cabinets get regular use, it would bubble up and come off, leaving a bigger mess than I started with.
As I scrubbed those cabinets, I thought about how we can let all kinds of gunk build up in our hearts over time. We can let things like past hurts, disappointments, anger and frustration, form an invisible coating that keeps us from moving forward into new opportunities, new relationships, and fresh starts.
The problem is, that often, just like the invisible coating that was on my cabinets, we don’t even know it’s there. The only thing that truly removes that buildup is to prayerfully turn our hearts over to God and ask for strength and healing. Sometimes we need strength to forgive, and to forgive is the only way to heal. Sometimes we need strength to take the next step. Sometimes we need peace.
Thankfully, God knows what we need, even when we don’t and if we are patient, He will provide it and the outcome will be stunning.
Some old cabinets reminded me to be mindful of the buildup that can accumulate in our hearts. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂