Wednesday, June 03, 2015

When You're Tired of Wishing



                      "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."


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Eegads. Ol' out-of-shape-kinda-let-herself-go Debra pretended she was still in her 40's today and:

Put together two sets of these shelves (including pushing one so-heavy-in-the-box set upstairs):




Carried the shelves into the guest room. Decorated them.

Spray-painted three shoe boxes outside to set on the shelves.

Lugged a heavy nightstand (cupboard and drawer kind) downstairs, (backwards) but first moved the whole table/pictures/lamp/books set-up at the bottom of the stairs so to make room. Then put it all back.

Carried a wrought iron patio chair downstairs then spray-painted it outside then carried it to the front porch and rearranged things out there.

Went up and down all our stairs 1,000 20 times. And of course, did all the usual daily tasks. 

Ol' Debra feels 99-years-old. 

But you know? When you finally stop wishing things would get done and just do them, it's like God fills you with the necessary strength to accomplish what's necessary. But there's no anointing or grace included in the wishing package or the procrastination one. (I know. I looked.)

There is Super Grace in obeying God in His timing.

And actually? After living nearly 4 years in a house which could win a No Real Storage Award, I'm finally adding my own. In fact, on Sunday afternoon I created a linen closet inside of our closet upstairs. I got tired of waiting for an organized linen place to magically appear and wow--how downright luxurious to have even an imperfect, skinny-shelved linen closet.

Pro-activity and relying upon God's strength. Stopping the whining, complaining and the silently waiting for workers/butlers/fairies to magically come in and do it all for you. Asking for help--we can't do all things alone, of course-- is also part of accomplishment.

I recommend those things.



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Sally from across the street steps out her front red door and sweeps her porch in the cutest dusters/breakfast robes (as WalMart calls them) just like a real 1950's lady. I got so envious because I wore all my dusters into the rag bag way back at Autumn Cottage.

Oh, the peer pressure to be like all the other vintage ladies on my street.  :)

So when I ordered those shelves, above, from WalMart online, I also bought this duster, below, which is more fuchsia than purple, but is ok because it does something pleasant for my face which is like a miracle:



And that's what I wore as I listened to Let's Make a Deal and The Price is Right while putting my shelves together. And all felt right in this vintage world I've got going, the one lots of people say doesn't exist anymore.

But we who view things differently know better, don't we?



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“If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so.” 
― Lev Grossman




"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."   ... Philippians 4:19


"... let your needs be made known." ... Philippians 4:6



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Free Kindle Books:


Agnes Campbell's Hat

Amazing God Stories


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5 comments:

Lisa in Texas = ) said...

What a great post! This is a lesson I have had to learn. And it feels so great to get the stuff done! So thankful for God's Grace!
God bless you~ Lisa :O)

Judy said...

Oh, shelves! I <3 shelves!

mabeane said...

Oh Debra I am exhausted just listening to you story. I did so much of that in my 40s, 50s and 60s. I knew if I didn't do it it wouldn't get done.
But now having just turned 72 and living with the disease of random pain and fatigue
I am finding myself really unable to muster up the gumption to do those things. God is teaching me both patience and trust. It's so very hard when you've alway done what needed to be done to find yourself needing to ask for help and needing to let some things go.

Debra said...

Lisa--good to see you again. It had been awhile! So glad I'm not the only one learning this lesson. :)

Judy--totally! :) Whenever I watch tv shows in which there are beautiful white shelves, I just stare at them and totally miss whatever else happened in the scene. :) Aren't shelves wonderful?

Jan--glad you understand as well! Also, I'm going to go back to my post and include a sentence about going ahead and hiring help when it's needed. I meant to do that (oh, the tasks I simply can't do myself at this house), but after reading your comment, I know it's important to add it. So thanks!

Thanks, Ladies! Blessings, Debra

Deborah Raney said...

I wanna see pictures! Glad you had such a productive day!