Susanne Maynes

Have you done any house painting lately? We tackled our living room and dining room this spring. The finished product looks fantastic, but I learned something in the process.

Eighty percent of a job well done is in the prep work.

I was really eager to start rolling “Nutty Beige” onto the walls, but before we could do that, we had to purchase supplies, move furniture, clean off walls, tape edges, spackle holes, and lay down drop clothes. This took the better part of a day. Once we started cutting in and rolling, the job didn’t take very long.

Consider how that’s what parenting is like. When we raised our three sons, we had to carefully attend to the details of shaping their characters. This was not an overnight process. It took time. There was a lot of prep work before we could roll out the finished product, so to speak.

Now think about the fact that God is parenting you.

In fact, when God raises up a leader, he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry at all to get them on the scene. He put Moses out in the desert for forty years. Joseph spent years languishing in prison. David had to learn to shepherd sheep before he led his people.

They would not have been ready for God’s purposes any sooner – and you are not ready any sooner than God decides it, either.

Ephesians 2 describes us as the God’s “workmanship,” and the Greek word is “poema,” from which we get the English word “poem.” You are the poem God is writing, and poets will tell you that it can take years for a good piece to ripen. It takes time to create a masterpiece.

Remember “Mr. Holland’s Opus?” He wanted to write a great symphony. It turned out that the students he poured into over the years became that symphony.

In the same way, you are God’s great work of art.

Eventually you will be displayed in his stunning collection, but for now he is working patiently and diligently on your character. He will not scrimp or rush ahead. He’ll do all the necessary prep work so that the finished product is excellent and worthy of his signature.

Do you find yourself wishing God would hurry up and make you shiny like Jesus quicker than he seems to be doing?

Every time I drive by the house on a certain corner in town, I feel sad. A couple of years ago, it got a complete face lift, transforming it from an unkempt place with a yard full of random furniture and appliances to an attractive little property. A few months later, the place looked as bad as ever. Contrast that to another house in my neighborhood which was neglected for years, paint peeling and lawn shriveled to just weeds.  Under new ownership, it now looks tidy, clean, and pleasantly inviting. The condition of these homes seems directly related to the inner condition of the Continue Reading

It sat there on the dining room floor, floating when we walked by and begging to be swept up. For some reason, I ignored the soft gray feather that had blown in from outside for two days. That turned out to be a good thing. Have you ever gotten out of the normal routine and seen things from a different perspective? On the morning of the day I had planned to clean, my one-year-old grandson and his mommy stopped by. Reuel was a bit grumpy and out of sorts – until his grandfather picked up the feather and blew it toward the ceiling. The feather floated down. Reu stood wide-eyed, watching Continue Reading