Sometimes you have to do some hard work before you can rest.
Three years ago I sent this post out to you. We haven’t had to think again about flooding in that basement. The hard work and inconvenience was worth it.
Now, three years later, it’s helpful to remember… here’s to doing the work of rest:
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There are things that weigh us down, things that wecan do something about, but instead avoid because enduring the ongoing burden feels easier than doing the work to remove it.
Don't worry.
There comes a time when enough is enough. We're ready. We take action—which may look like immediate change (or like the beginning of a process).
This past week, Ricardo and I put an end to theongoing problem of a flooding basement in Michigan (we live in North Carolina).
Over the past two years, we've cleaned the gutters, moved some dirt, brought in a plumber... We hoped against hope that we would not have to do the big, expensive thing: put in a French drain.
Our tactics worked for a while, but in the end, which came very suddenly two weeks ago, we knew thetime had come.
We lined everything up from a distance, but it was like playing a game of catch turned dodge ball, thedodgers being the people who were going to do thework.
In case you didn't know:
"The construction industry will need to attract nearly 650,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring in 2022 to meet the demand for labor..." (https://www.abc.org/News-Media...)
We are the little people. There are endless jobs more important than ours.
So Ricardo started looking in Charlotte and found someone who agreed to take the job (for a very reasonable price, I might add).
This is remarkable, because the job included an 11+ hour drive there and back.
The plan: Gary would excavate and do the french drain, Rogelio would put in two egress windows, Ricardo and I would paint the external walls with Dry-lock and attach the window wells at the right height.
We loaded up the van with tools and set out.
It felt like an expedition, replete with the unexpected happenings:
A tire blew sometime before midnight in rural Ohio and we did the rest of the trip using a spare. This meant we arrived at 3:30 a.m.
A few hours later I was on the phone with theexcavator (Gary) who had misread my text and thought we'd be arriving (instead of leaving) on Wednesday.
It rained off and on.
The egress window system I'd ordered didn't come with a window.
The inspector hadn't received the permit application.
And so on—which means we left Wednesday late afternoon instead of morning and had to drive all night. We arrived home at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday with just enough time to shower and head out thedoor again.
We are exhausted.
We are also grateful.
The work was hard. It was physically taxing and challenging in other ways as well. But it was worth it—no more flooding.
We can rest.
And now I'm asking myself:
Are there any ongoing burdens that I am carrying, or life draining situations that I'm putting up with that have a permanent solution—if I'm ready to do thework?
There is a time for everything, as The Preacher said in Ecclesiastes 3. I'd like to add to his list: "a time to work and a time to rest."
The words that follow this list remind us not to get lost in the work:
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13)
May your rest be sweet.
Alicia