Posts Tagged: kitchen remodeling

“Confidence: Cultivating Courage in Others in the Little Things”

On July 27, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the LORD is finished correctly.” (1 Chronicles 28:20)

David was about to die, and was encouraging his son, Solomon, to build the temple.  “Be strong and courageous, and do the work!” says David.

Does it really take courage  to build a temple?  Yes, as a matter of fact, it does!

My wife and I just did a little project at our house.  We were having the kitchen remodeled.  Others did the really hard work—installing the cabinets and setting the countertops.

However, when the company that was overseeing the project wanted $400.00 to hook the kitchen sink back up after the countertops were set, my wife and I decided to do it ourselves.

Now, I come from a family of very capable artisans and fixer-uppers.  However, I am an outlier in my family.  Words?  Yes!  Fixing stuff?  Generally speaking, no!

However, my wife used a major incantation to relax my very uncourageous muscles.  She said, “We can do this.”

“We” is such a magic word!

A friend confirmed my wife’s spell.  He even said that we would have fun doing it.  And we did!  (The same friend said that we should not try to wallpaper together.  He warned me that divorce lawyers camped out around wallpaper stores in order to drum up business.  Warning duly noted!)

“We can do this,” she said.  And we did!  And, yes, it really was fun!

We tend to think of courage as something soldiers and firemen demonstrate.  I don’t doubt that this is true.  However, there are the smaller chances for courage that are also important.  To show courage is a wonderful thing.  To encourage courage in others is perhaps even more wonderful.

I conclude with a note that I left at my wife’s place at the table this morning.

 

“My Dearest,

One of the gifts that you give me is confidence.  You have a can-do attitude, not only for yourself, but also for me.

When you believe that I can do something, I have more courage to at least try.  And sometimes, really quite often these days, I succeed!

Courage is not simply a gift we are given or achieve.  Courage is a gift we give others.

With Great love and Appreciation,

Your Sweetheart

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