Dust...

Haven’t posted in a while – I’m sitting in my study waiting to follow in John’s wake, as we sandpaper our way through our Hall, Stairs and Landing. Major confession time – we have not decorated the Hall, Stairs & Landing (henceforth called the HSL) since we moved in 14 years ago!

Now I know why!

As mentioned in a recent blog, most of the walls had been artexed, but thanks to a great job by Andy Ormesher, they are now plastered over, ready for painting. However, before we paint the walls, we have to re-paint all the gloss work – and with an HSL that means we have to sandpaper back a tremendous amount. We are trying to do things properly – hopefully, so we won’t ever have to do it again!

We have great plans for the HSL, but at this stage of the game, every job that appears to be finished only raises a few more. For example, we realized that we would have to paint two ceilings – which meant washing them first – which highlighted how horrible the loft hatch was looking - and then of course, we have to get the doors ready for varnishing (all 7 of them) - as well as following Andy’s advice to VERY lightly sand over all the new plasterwork once it was dry – and I ache all over!

But I had forgotten just how much dust there could be…. Because as we have to sandpaper doors, it means that as we open the doors to get into the corners of them, all this lovely pale pink plaster dust finds its insidious way into all the rooms, into every wrinkle on my face (too many of them by far!), into clothes, into toothbrushes, bed linen, shoes… everywhere! Reminded me of how awful it must have been at the time of the Egyptian plagues. We read in Exodus 8:17 that “When Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats”. If every scrap of dust in my house right now turned into a gnat – URGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

I keep telling myself the end result will be worth it….

Pat’s Thought for the Day;
God is preparing us for an eternal life in His presence. For that to be perfect, it means getting us prepared now. If one job turns up another, then that has to be dealt with, too. And just like sandpaper, God often uses irritable people, events and circumstances to build up a friction, in order to smooth out all the rough edges. It’s irritating, and messy, and it feels like we will never be clean. But oh, how it will be worth it all, to be presented as a spotless Bride before the King of Kings….