Paint

So, this weekend I was painting. A lot. Man, I forget how much work it can be! My entire upstairs is quite possibly the worst drywall job ever, and so first I had to prep the walls by plastering them and sanding them. And even then, I likely should have done even more! Then I had to clean them – my upstairs bathroom doesn’t seem to get good ventilation and the walls get so dirty with mildew. (Eeew! I know.) So I cleaned them and then to prevent future mold outbreaks, I wiped them all down with bleach.

Once that all dried, I could do my primer! I had to buy a special kind, to help with the mold/mildew problem. So on the second day, two coats of that and I still have speckled arms – it’s tough stuff! Then the 3rd day I painted the ceiling – two coats on Saturday. Finally, Sunday, my favorite…I got to do 2 coats of the light green paint on the walls. It looks so nice now! I really should put new white paint on all the trim to touch it up and finish it off, but I’m quite frankly ready to get out of my house and be around people again. :)

And it’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to make things look nicer.

Finished.

More…put together.

But, would it have been as good had I just painted and not done all the prep work? The cleaning, taping, bleaching, plastering, sanding…no, it wouldn’t have been. It might have looked nice on the outside, but underneath would be all this stuff. And I might get some of the green paint on the white trim without the tape, making it just a little less nice.

How true this is of our inner beings! We all have mold and mildew that can creep up into our soul, holes in the walls of our hearts…and many times it’s easier to just paint over them.

New clothes.
A new haircut.
New job.
New location.
New friends.

But no matter what, it will always just be a layer of paint that fades away over time, revealing once again the mold and mildew of our being that was never removed.

My friends, don’t settle for the paint. DO the hard work of cleaning out that mold. Scrub away until the mildew is gone and has no chance of coming back. Repair the holes of your heart.

Only then are we ready to painted with newness, with hope, with life and with joy.