My husband and I are embarking on another season of Home Improvements in the Collins Household. We’ve lived here for over 20 years; the house was built in 1979–the maintenance and care are ongoing.
The other night we were calculating dimensions of the opening for a new sidelight to go next to our front door. I was to be the recorder while my husband called out measurements.
He is Detail Man, the analytical talk-to-think guy. I am more the Big Picture, I-already-thought-it-through-and-I-actually-have-some-questions-about-the-process. I’ve jumped right to the end of the project–blast all the steps along the way.
This is called Being Impulsive. (My husband calls me Impossible; we’re still working on that.)
As he likes to remind me, “measure twice, cut once.” Or when he begins to echo my father-in-law, it sounds like this, “If you have time to fix what you did wrong, you have time to do it right the first time.”
God is using this difference in our thinking and processing styles to remind me to Slow Down. Because it is true, the hurrier you go, the behinder you get.
I am so quick to jump to conclusions my impulsiveness often gets me in a bit of trouble. It definitely leaves me with the wrong impression–I assume “A” is true, when actually “B” is the case.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that our pastor has been doing a series on the book of Proverbs lately, particularly on the power of words…. One of the many verses that has been speaking is….
thank you, Jean….sounds like it's a message for all of us.
you make me smile, Jody. great illustration and reminder. I too hurry and miss important details or even worse, depth to what I am reading. slow down and savor life more is something I need to remember. Thanks
God so often uses our spouses for all that smoothing out, doesn't He?
Laughing at this. It's the exact opposite of Jeff and me. He's more let's go and do now!, while I'm wanting to slow this train down and think about every detail first. It's good we all have someone who is our opposite to balance each other out! 🙂
Yes, God does seem more interested in slow but steady progress, as opposed to instant success. (I wonder why that is?) And in giving ourselves to become MORE ourselves (the ones he's created us to be in the first place), we can't help but resemble him. Now THERE's a goal worth pursuing–even it it's long term. Yep. I'm in it for the long haul, too. Thank you, Jody, for the encouragement to press on!