Quinn came up to me yesterday morning. "My goal (since we are realistic at our house :)...) is to get all the sprinkling systems up and running." Pause. "And then, if I actually do that, I will get the swamp cooler running." I cheered him on his way with a hug, and we each separated to our various fields of Saturday battle.
Periodically I would see him, dirty and tired, but always coming from the same hole. Apparently, one broken sprinkler line went under a tree and the main line next to it was also vulnerable during the digging and ended up being broken too while Quinn was chopping through the trunk and roots of the tree.
Needless to say, it took him all day to get to the broken line, fix the main line that broke in the process and...that's "it." It was frustrating for him.
However, as we talked about it (as my projects felt similarly frustrating), I said, "But you know, that work had to be done to get where we want to go. There was no other way to do it."
It got me thinking this morning. How many times in callings in the Church, in situations with family and friends, or in personal development we feel like we are like Quinn, digging and digging and digging...even making more problems as we try to "solve the problem" or "achieve the goal"? It is frustrating!
Yet...
...sometimes we cannot achieve our goal, mend that relationship, or serve those people without hours of what feels like fruitless labor.
Carry on. The goal is still the goal. The end is still heaven. And it is about what we become in the process, even if we don't always see the fruits of our labors as often as we would like.
Needless to say, it took him all day to get to the broken line, fix the main line that broke in the process and...that's "it." It was frustrating for him.
However, as we talked about it (as my projects felt similarly frustrating), I said, "But you know, that work had to be done to get where we want to go. There was no other way to do it."
It got me thinking this morning. How many times in callings in the Church, in situations with family and friends, or in personal development we feel like we are like Quinn, digging and digging and digging...even making more problems as we try to "solve the problem" or "achieve the goal"? It is frustrating!
Yet...
...sometimes we cannot achieve our goal, mend that relationship, or serve those people without hours of what feels like fruitless labor.
Carry on. The goal is still the goal. The end is still heaven. And it is about what we become in the process, even if we don't always see the fruits of our labors as often as we would like.
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