I love the color of our living room: Gold #3. It’s warm and comforting. But right now, it looks like it’s growing spots. Bad timing, since this is our Global Impact Conference week and we have guests coming and going from our home. We could’ve scrambled to paint over it, but since I was gone last week, there wasn’t extra time or energy to do that. It just wasn’t a priority … fixing the Gold #3. Besides that, every time I see the spots, the Lord reminds me to ACCEPT him.
While I was away giving our college girl some TLC last week, my sweet husband tackled a few to-do’s at home. After all, he knew I would feel more prepared for our global guests if the house was in good order. (Disclaimer: Jeff knows I’m going to share this … and he gave his permission 😉 ) There was a tiny spot above our fireplace that needed to be touched up with paint, so that was on the list. But Jeff is not a “just do what you have to” kind of guy. While I was gone, he got out the bucket of Gold #3 and touched up that spot … and then he searched for other spots. He touched up every spot he found. ALL around the living room. Problem was … that bucket of Gold #3 didn’t match.
Maybe it’s because our living room was painted ten years ago, but the new paint looks like a whole different beast (think “Giraffe”) than the old paint. Jeff hoped it would “blend in” as it dried. It didn’t, and I then I came home.
As we finished tidying up the house on Saturday before guests began to arrive, I saw them. Parts of the walls reminiscent of a giraffe … in varying shades of Gold #3. There was no time to re-paint. There was no paint to re-paint. There was no energy to re-paint.
Doing your best, only to be met with rejection or accusation is defeating. It makes you wonder if it’s worth trying at all. When a boy/man does his best, no matter the outcome, the response he receives largely determines whether or not he’ll “try” the next time. How do you respond when the “him” in your life falls short of your hopes or standards?
What meets your man when he tries?
When a guy stops trying, you can be sure that he gave it his best once and was met with pronouncements of his inadequacy.
- Julie: It looks like the touch up paint might’ve been a little different than Gold #3.
- Jeff: Nope. I checked it. Gold #3. Maybe it will dry and match, the longer it’s on there.
- Julie: (Mentally writing/re-writing responses, confessing responses, starting over … Holy Spirit nudging and prompting, using the messages of Scripture, the example of my mentor, and 28 Days About Him) It doesn’t matter. Thank you for trying to touch it up.
- Jeff: I was trying to do a good thing.
- Julie: You did do a good thing. It’s fine, and they probably won’t even notice (Squelching snarky comeback lines to myself, mentally, asking God to make my thoughts more like His) We’ll have to re-paint this whole room anyway … someday. It’s not the important thing right now.
- Jeff: Well, the good thing is that having an accent wall is in style now.
- Julie: I’m not sure this counts. 🙂
No one mentioned our giraffe motif. We shared life stories, cups of coffee, laughter, dinner, Olympics closing ceremonies, and needs in that room with the spots. And those spots painted in new-Gold #3 didn’t even matter. But it mattered to Jeff and to me that we didn’t let those spots come between us. If we had, I’m guessing the hospitality in our home would’ve been rather unhealthy, maybe even toxic, and far from an aroma to the Lord. In that moment of decision, I’m glad God’s Spirit told me that I need to accept him (Jeff) as he is, imperfect like me.
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (James 2:8)
And who knows? Maybe the next trend after accent walls will be animal patterns. We’ll do “giraffe.”
