Firstly, aren't you all going to be sad when I stop writing about my basement project? It's been such a big part of my life these past few months that I honestly wonder what on earth I'm going to do with myself when it's finished. Oh wait, that's right... I'm going to curl up in my chair with some homemade hot chocolate and a blanket and type away on my laptop... and be ridiculously grateful to have a little more space of my own.
That being said, this reno has taught me a lot more than I thought it would. I thought I would spend the entire time grumpy and impatient and stressed that enough isn't getting done. I have felt like that from time to time, but in between those annoyingly human feelings, I had some little pockets of grace where I felt like God was explaining to me how my life can be like renovating.
For those of you who haven't seen the pictures, the basement started off as a complete and utter mess, not unlike myself. Boxes of who knows what, discarded appliances littering the walls and floor so that you were stuck in one place without the option of moving forward; a stalemate of sorts. How does one person go about pilfering through all this junk? You ask for help. As a fairly independent person (you know, the kind of girl who looks at a guy funny when he offers to carry the heavy box for her... I might be a girl, but I'm not weak!), asking for help has never been easy for me. An irrational part of me figured that I could do it all by myself, but when you take on that much alone it gets so much easier to get discouraged and give up. Is that not so true in life? We need to reach out to others and offer help, just as much as we need to ask for it when we need it. I put my pride aside and asked for help even if I thought the people I was asking would say no, which some of them did, but the point is I asked.
Once all of the junk was cleared away, and you could actually see the basement, some of the problems became a lot clearer. Cracks needed to be cemented, holes mudded, walls and ceilings put up, new carpet put down. A rather large battle had been won, but there was still so much work to do... most of which I couldn't even be much help with. All I could do is stand there and wait for someone to need me to hand them a screw or a level. I find waiting tends to be a huge part of renovating and healing. Sometimes the only thing you can do is pray, which may feel like you aren't doing much, but trust me it's huge!
Finally it was time to paint! Time to cover all of the imperfections on the walls with a beautiful fresh colour. As I painted, I remembered reading in one of my devotionals that God looks at me with my Jesus-layer on. When I accepted Jesus as my Savior, all of my own imperfections and sins were covered, just like my walls were getting new life with the paint. That doesn't mean that the imperfections aren't there, or that they won't resurface, but you can no longer see them.
Now we're down to the nitty-gritty, back to me waiting to somehow be useful again as the drop ceiling gets ready to go up and the carpet gets ready to go down. Back to me praying to be able to handle any set backs and not ask too much of those who are helping me. It's harder when the finish line is so close, but I can do it. Even with knowing that we're almost done, I realize that with me it will never be fully finished. Pictures and posters will change, touch ups will be needed with time, flowers or other decorations will be changed out. Just like life, it will keep changing.
For those of you in the midst of your own life renovations (don't worry, I'm right smack in the middle of one of those too), remember not to get discouraged; ask for help when you need it; pray and wait, then pray some more!; look back at where you started and realize how far you've come; keep chipping away at it bit by bit, and don't worry if things aren't turning out perfectly because this is an ongoing process. If you do all of that, the results could be beautiful.
<3 Kayla
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