Our neighbor to the south put up a fence at our shared side property line—but for some reason, after 30 years, weather, nature, and decay won. So the new owner and I put up another of cedar, which would need paint to match our adjoining east fence, of painted cedar.
I planned on refreshing the south fence, so I pulled out my pressure nozzle to take off the dirt, but a surprisingly large amount of paint on the east fence sloughed off—requiring more scraping and priming.
At this point, all the scraping and priming have been done, and next week the finish coat will go on. And, as you would expect, this entire episode provides some principles for the spiritual life. First, identify the problem as best you can and plan. Don’t just grab a hammer and brush, evaluate it. That’s biblical, according to the wise sage Solomon, “In his heart a man plans his course…” (Proverbs 16:9). But from the lesson of the fences, please allow me to make a suggestion. Keep a loose grip on those best-laid plans, for two reasons.
Don’t be so determined that you override God. He’ll let you do that, or so I’ve found when I bull ahead, but that can cause us to miss his best. That verse continues, “…but the LORD determines his steps.” Is our grip flexible enough to hear the often-gentle suggestions he makes? According to 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” To get his results, we need to bring him into the equation.
And keep your grip loose, because Murphy was an optimist. Things will always go wrong. I appreciate how the “Property Brothers” on TV have a contingency fund. I needed one on this project. Several old fence boards had rotten and needed replacing. A LOT of paint peeled off that I hadn’t anticipated, causing hours of scraping and priming. The materials cost went up significantly from my first plans until I started work on the project. I needed more paint than planned for. And the time spent just about doubled.
I suspect you all realize the topic isn’t fences, but our lives. Our values. Our jobs. Our families. Our role in building God’s kingdom. Even to telling people about Jesus. His plan of evangelism included making people count the cost, to know what’s coming, and to decide on that basis. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him… In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:28-29, 33).
Scary, isn’t it? Yes, the cost is high. But the payback, now and for eternity, is incomparable.
Kick Starting the Application
Do you lean to the impulsive type that says, “Let’s just get started, we’ll figure it out as we go?” If so, what problems has that brought? Or, do you plan more, in detail? Have you always figured the job out correctly? Do you consistently combine evaluation and prayer in choosing and laying out life projects? Do you have some tentative plans on becoming more godly?