In the Dailies

Snowballs

October 29, 2008

We saw our first snowflakes today. The kids were SO excited!! Ellie wanted to run out and play immediately. Unfortunately, the short burst of seasonal quirkiness ended before we could find her mittens. That’s okay by me. I’m not quite ready for winter yet. Especially if it, in traditional northeast fashion, decides to stick around through March. Besides, today I’m dealing with a completely different kind of snowball.

I mentioned last week about the leaky roof and new ceiling construction. Well, the guys finally finished the job yesterday. Shortly after they left, I got busy preparing the room to be repainted.

Three and a half years ago I decorated the room with trains. When finished, it looked like this.

Cute – right? I thought so. Perfect for Zach’s first room, but not exactly suited for a dining room, which is what this room will soon become.

I started taking down the trains, 3-D wooden things I painted and nailed to the walls when Zach was born. The 12th piece brought with it a patch of wallpaper. You may remember the adventures we’ve had with wallpaper in this house. After finding one too many surprises, I decided to paint over the wallpaper in Zach’s room rather than subject myself to another round of Homeowner’s Roulette. But now, since the train pulled one tiny little piece, this simple cosmetic paint project snowballed into a much bigger job.

I started taking down the wallpaper to find holes. And the snowball grows. Fortunately these are much smaller than the ones we’ve encountered in the past. Then I found this.

Some days I really miss renting. Sure, we had a creepy landlord, but we didn’t have snowballs. We didn’t have the responsibility of caring if there were snowballs. We could make a phone call and forget it. As a homeowner, there is no one to call. Well, except our contractor who, I’m sure, loves having clients like us who buy houses like ours.

But then some snowballs are worth the effort.

“And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.” – Romans 5:3-4 (HCSB)

This is not hope as in a wish, but hope as in an utter, unrelenting confidence. In other words (my own words), trials encourage perseverance which, when it grows, snowballs into character which, the more it’s tested, snowballs into an undoubtable faith in our salvation. That’s a snowball I’ve love to manage.

How awesome would it be to never doubt your faith? To never think you’re crazy for believing in a God you can’t see or a direction you’re not totally sure He’s given you but you think He might have. These trials are a good thing when they snowball into an unshakable faith. But the only way they can do that is if we persevere. Our perseverance allows the trials to do their work, adding layer upon layer of character to us and our faith.

Sound off. What snowballs are you managing? Are you persevering? If not, what is preventing you from attaining that ultimate hope?

Entry Filed under: perseverance,trials. .