Painting and Pouting

So I've wondered all day what I would blog. Psst...can you tell I'm getting addicted? Then, I started painting my kitchen. Yes, it was planned, but boy is it a pain! I've been painting and pouting for about 3 hours. The pouting is rooted in the fact that I really dislike painting. Oh, it takes FOREVER. Oh, oh, oh (see, still pouting).
BUT, when it's all painted, I know I will be so glad I did the work - even if I did it with a less than stellar attitude.
Sometimes, God needs to repaint some areas of my mind or my heart. He is faithful to supply all the paint, the brushes, and the rollers that I could need. The truth is, at some point, I'm going to have to pick them up and start painting. "Repainting" our hearts and minds follow a similar process to painting a room. You start by cutting in. This is by far the most tedious (annoying....yep, still pouting) part of the job. It takes the most patience, diligence, and perseverance. Initially, getting rid of wrong attitudes and behaviors takes patience, diligence and perseverance. Eventually, however, you get to roll. I'm not to that point in my kitchen yet, but I am longing for the glorious roller! You just dip that thing in the paint and go to town. Walls become changed in minutes versus the hours it takes to cut in (at least for an amateur like me). Rolling gives much more instant gratification, but you can't really roll freely until you've cut in all the edges. Repainting wrong attitudes, motives and behaviors gets easier as you go, but you have to do the tedious work of "cutting in" first.
I'm going to continue painting tonight -not because I want to, but because I need to. My kitchen's a wreck! The truth is, I'll probably still be pouting about painting, but I have an advantage tonight. Dock, my husband, has been cheering me on since he got home. He's not the best painter so we've agreed that I should just do it since I have such high standards, a.k.a. I am so picky. He's been saying, "Go, Amanda, go!" And while at first I wanted to dump the cup of paint I was holding on his head, after a little bit, the cheering became part of the reason why I kept going. I also stopped pouting for a little while because the argument in my head that I had to do this all alone went away. Dock was there - spurring me on. God is cheering us on, too. He's an even better encourager than Dock because God gives us the tools to do the job, AND He supplies the energy to do it through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. So, "Go, (your name), go!" Time to get painting!