DWYL (Lessons from painting)

This past week I have had the responsibility of painting our carport. If you have ever painted anything like this, you know that first you have to scrape off the old paint, then you add the primer, and then you are able to paint. Well with the size of our carport, this is a pretty big job and each of those tasks take at least a full day.

Day one for me consisted of scraping off the old paint. Nearly 8 hours were spent scraping, and scraping, and scraping, with the sun getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter. By the end of the day, I was dripping with sweat and my arms were exhausted. I went inside to shower and cool off and then I waited for my father to come home to ask him if my work was sufficient enough. Much to my surprise, he told me that it wasn't. It wasn't that my work didn't live up to his standards, but rather I had used the wrong scraper. There was a another scraper in the toolbox that was actually a lot more efficient in taking off the paint. When I had to repeat my task of scraping the next day, I understood this to be true.

So day two of the job was almost like deja vu. I continued over the same spots, scraping away for hours. Much more paint came off with this scraper, and the carport did look a lot better. While I didn't mind doing the labor, I was somewhat frustrated with myself that I had pretty much wasted the day before, performing a task that turned out to be useless.


Do you ever wonder if our tasks in life are this way? People are so busy these days, involved in so many activities that we barely have time to sit down. I am not saying that being busy is a bad thing, but what is it that is keeping you busy? One day we will have to stand before our heavenly Father and give an accounting of the work that we have done. 1 Corinthians 3 talks of how the reward will only be given to him who has done good work, not to him who has wasted his time on a meaningless task.

Now obviously, this reward is not the reward of salvation. Salvation is not something that is earned through works, but rather it is something acquired through a relationship with Christ. But I love this idea of seeing my Father look at my work and saying, "Well done, Todd! The work that you have done is sufficient. It is exactly what I wanted you to do."

The positive to my mistake on painting was that I was given another day. But in life, we get only one chance. We have only one life to live. And as Moses states in Psalm 90, the time of that life quickly passes so we need to learn to number our days. What sort of things are you going to be remembered for? When you stand before God and he asks you what you did with the majority of your time, what are you going to say? Will the things that you have done actually matter? Will they have made an impact on the world? Or will all of your time been spent in vein?


This theme of not wasting my life has become a motto for me this past year. I have tried to apply it to my day, to my hour, and to my minute (ex. "Don't waste your minute"). This conscious effort to live every breath to the glory of God is one that is hard to attain, but I feel is necessary in checking our works. One of my biggest fears in life is to have spent all my time doing something that doesn't really matter. So this thought helps me in deciding whether or not something is worth pursuing.

What is it that you are wasting your time on? Are you seeking treasures that will never last? What could you be doing with that time that helps in furthering God's Kingdom? You have but one life to live. Don't waste it. Don't waste your life.