I love a project. My boys (all three of them!) often accuse me of dreaming up projects to do. They say if I have five spare minutes on my hand, I can have three new projects planned. And, since there is some truth to that statement, I guess I’ll have to own it. And, while I’m self-disclosing here, I’ll go ahead and tell one worse than that… Typically I dream up projects that require from my men, so there’s usually a fair amount of negotiating and bribery that goes into enlisting them for my latest adventure.

This weekend the project was the shed.

Isn’t this the cutest little shed you’ve ever seen?!

One of the reasons I love this little shed so much is the adorable gate. Seriously!

Now, I should mention here that we inherited this little shed when we bought our place two years ago. We also inherited a boatload (that’s Texas talk, I think) of junk in the shed, but that was cleaned out last summer. I’ve had good intentions for this shed for over a year, but my list of “must do” and “want to do more” projects have taken precedence, so the cleaning process had to be repeated. Of course, this time, I just had a boatload of cobwebs, spiders, wood ants, and dirt dauber nests.

Swept clean and power-washed!

I’m one of those kind of gals who thinks there’s nothing that a little bit of paint can’t fix. Painting is always my first solution. Thank goodness we now have the new Ace Hardware (yes, I’m loving it!) in McGregor, since my little bit of paint for this project required two trips and two gallons. Why or why can’t I ever just buy all the paint at once? Oh, I know. Then I wouldn’t get to make two trips for a Sonic Diet Coke, too. I would be forced to drink the canned Diet Coke in the refrigerator. Oh, the shame!

First things first… paint the walls

My trusty sidekick, Duchess! She stood at the gate and watched, and I am certain she cheered me on in her own doggy sort of way. And, of course, I have to have music while I work.

Well, painting was a great start, but you know, what the shed really needed was a window so I could have some light. Actually, I thought the shed needed electricity so it could have some light, but that was immediately vetoed. No problem. Brad would tell you I’ve always got a Plan B. How about a window?!

Here’s Brad. You might think he’s thinking about how to put the window in, but I know what he’s thinking, “Why do I put up with this crazy woman?!” Can I just say here how much I love him?!

Let there be light! Love my hubby and his amazing carpentry skills!

After a full day of slaving, the window is in and the shed is completely painted. I even recruited Cam to hang a sheet of pegboard so I can hang up all my tools, and Brad unearthed some pegs and other cool things to use on the pegboard. All that’s left is moving the stuff out of my garage and into my cute little shed. I was bound and determined to have everything complete Saturday night, but my men were having nothing of it. They were hot and tired and HUNGRY. Project work finished for the day. Hello BBQ at Vitek’s!

As I stood on the sidewalk and surveyed the near-finished project on Saturday evening, I got to thinking…

I love a project except when… the work in progress is me. And then, I don’t always like it near as much. Not because I’m adverse to hard work, sore muscles or sweat. Heck, I can even tolerate a little pain. Being the project is hard because of one thing… waiting to be finished. Not being able to check everything off the list. Not being done. 

For this somewhat well-planned, Type A, control freak, being unfinished business can be challenging. If I’m not careful, I can get too focused on my dreams and goals and plans. And, worse yet… sometimes the slightest deterrent in progress or the tiniest hint of inadequacy can trip me up.

I don’t know your struggles. I don’t know what is unfinished business in your life. I don’t know what disappointments make you doubt your worth. I don’t know what losses and failures you’ve experienced. 

But this I know. And this promise I claim. God is not finished with us yet, but He will be!

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you 

will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.”

Philippians 1:6 NIV