Victoria Advocate, A Different Perspective
A large cabinet job. Yay! We were excited. My husband’s semi-retirement goal is to work from home and utilize his shop. In his construction career, he’s built new homes, at least one commercial office, countless kitchen and bathroom remodels, and numerous home inspections. But these days, he needs a break mid-day and a place to put his feet up. Not real conducive on a job site, so a compromise was necessary. With cabinet building, most of the labor happens in his shop.
Dave dug in with relish and searched for a supplier who stocked the type of wood the homeowners wanted. The cabinet doors had to be ordered since most cabinet makers don’t carry the equipment needed to make them. He and his partner built the upper shelves without a hitch. Same way with a corner shelf and the bottom cabinets. Sawdust piled up, and I enjoyed the smell of fresh cut wood. They kept the garage-style door open, and the dogs loved wandering in and out while they worked.
But when they started on the angled kitchen island, things ceased being smooth and easy. To the unexperienced eye, nothing looked wrong, but they weren’t satisfied. Not at all. Several conversations took place, they measured from different angles, and even when he was away from the project, he still thought about it.
He worked around one issue, then found two more. The expensive wood made do-over cost prohibitive, so he and his partner worked together to find the best solutions. It was difficult getting the angles fitted together for a sound foundation that was pleasing to the eye. But with lots of prayer and perseverance, they made it happen.
Have you ever wished for a complete do-over in some area of your life? Yeah, if only. But life isn’t designed for do-overs. At least not our physical lives. Life is busy and it is easy to get sidetracked or spend too much time on something that isn’t a priority. Mistakes happen, even when we’re trying our best. But if we get focused on what we do (or did) wrong, regret will keep us stuck on an endless replay. Newsflash: It’s a pretty depressing place to live.
The antidote to living with regrets is embracing godly priorities, but we have to know what those are and work at applying them to our lives. The truth is, we can think about something a lot, but not follow through. For example: I often think about losing weight—
especially when I’ve eaten too much of a good thing—but regularly making nutritious choices and exercising portion control? That’s an ongoing battle.
Surely, I’m not the only one who does this.
Thank God I serve the One whose mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. He’s the only One who can take our mess ups and turn them into fresh, creative opportunities. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
That hard area of life? That broken relationship? That constant struggle to stay on top of a gargantuan to-do list? If I choose to give those things to Him, choose to do life with Him, I’ll have victory. It may not look like what I imagined, but I gain contentment, knowing He’s truly in charge of all that affects me.
The decision to trust Him with how I live my life now is far greater than a wishful do-over.