I often love the process of planning projects more than the actual project. Take for example Christmas, I love the preparation, planning & cooking so so much!
I also enjoy painting and usually enjoy the process of painting more than looking at the finished masterpiece.
As a teacher I remember observing a small child painstakingly paint a lovely picture of her house & family only to then paint all over the top of it with black paint. She loved the act of painting and was learning so much from the process of it. The only issue for me was then explaining this black splodgy soggy paper to her parents when she gleefully said "I did a painting of my house!" At home-time.
One process I could really do without however is cleaning my bathroom.
I enjoy having a clean sparkly bathroom but not the process of getting it that way. As I write this my nostrils are filled with the smell of bleach which usually takes half a day to fade away.
After a twitter conversation with a friend this morning I got thinking about this in a new way.
It's a sacrifice for me to clean my bathroom...
...I don't like the process but I learn from the process.
I've blogged before about the importance of being diligent with the little things in life, but there's another lesson to be learned here.
In life we must sacrifice things in order to have something we want.
In order to afford a nice holiday we need to sacrifice the odd Starbucks here & there... (and usually other luxuries too)
In order to enjoy a morning walk with my dog I need to get up that bit earlier...
Sacrifices big & small are annoying, but we're willing to go through with them if we can see the prize waiting on the other side.
Proverbs 29v11 says that without a vision/revelation, people cast off restraint / or people perish (depending on the translation)
Yes, we have to sacrifice from time to time but keeping our eye on the prize keeps our focus where it should be... ahead.
When we have dreams & desires for our lives they're usually in seed form within us. The sacrifices we make along the way to realising them are like the fertilizer that ensures their growth.
Fertilizer smells and its a nasty job using it (thinking of my toilet here) but the results are amazing!
SO, the next time you clean your bathroom think about what lesson you can learn in the process.
:-)
