NOT MY GIFT!!!

Well bless my heart.       

I remembered why Ronald doesn’t allow me to paint at home. Thank goodness it was clear sealer. My intentions were wonderful, my carry through, not so much. Who knew slate sealer was as thin as water?

Here’s the tale. Our church got a new facility that used to be a golf course. My first mistake was to volunteer to take care of the bathrooms. Oh my! Permit me to take a bunny trail.

The ladies’ room was not so bad. Other than a few splashes on the mirror, all was good. Except for my painting. We’ll get to that later.

Men.

God love ‘em.

Gross is my only description. I want to put up a sign that says ‘This is a urinal’, and ‘This is the floor’. What goes in one place should not end up on the other. My young grandson assures me that men do not wipe … so they dribble. Argh! Who started that inane technique? No one who cleans a bathroom!

And let’s talk aim! Why is there water damage on the sides of the stalls that are a good ten inches away from the urinal? I don’t even want to know.

When I do work like this, I pray for grace and try to keep focused on what is important. I prayed for every lady and every man that ever used the facility or will ever use the facility. I prayed they will be the women and men of purpose that God meant them to be. (I also prayed that everyone would be considerate of the janitors of the future.)

So let’s get off my rant and back to the painting. Did you ever want to do something that was not in your skill set? I admit that I do, far too often.

I had cleaned the bathrooms the last workday and realized the slate would need sealing to prevent deterioration. I watched on YouTube the proper way, read instructions on DIY, read the directions on the jug of sealant, and I was set to go. I hinted to my husband to help, but he didn’t take the bait. Like many other projects, I bullied on. I am woman, hear me ROAR. (Helen Reddy and Ray Burton classic)

The first swipe of the small roller assured me that paper towels were my new best friends. The first little nudge of the paint tray that splashed sealer onto the floor insured paper towels a place in my heart. When the full tray of sealer slid off the back of the toilet, well, I can say at that point it was a challenge to restrain from using my ‘plumbing vocabulary’. Thankfully, the pastor’s wife had purchased the economy-sized package of super towels. More importantly, the cement floor had not been refinished and suffered little damage. (Other than making the floor by the toilet a little slippery when wet – another reason to aim carefully.)

I decided that next time the opportunity arose, I would encourage someone else to use their God given talents in the painting department. I will stick to … well at this point of my life I’m not quite sure what my life’s purpose is. I just know paintbrush, roller, and paint tray should not be in my vocabulary or anywhere in the vicinity of my hands.

The Bible speaks of the body of believers, each with their position and purpose, working together as a whole. I can clean. If it hadn’t been for the rustic condition of the floors, I would have been a gigantic failure in my attempt to seal the tiles. I was given grace in this instance, and I have learned my lesson.

In what other areas have I been overly determined to ‘help’ without the skill set to successfully complete the chore? In what other ministries have my ‘can do’ or ‘stand back and watch in awe’ mentality been a detriment to the Kingdom work?

In what ministries do you have skills that God expects you to use? When you don’t use the giftings God gave you, someone like me has to take up the slack. And that, my friend, can only be bad news!

I wish someone with plumbing skills had volunteered to refit the inside of the toilet that keeps clogging because it doesn’t fill adequately. I have put in many toilet inserts, but I guarantee plumbing is not my gift. But instead of asking another person (other than the five men I asked already), I shall buy the innards and do it my own sweet self!

I am woman, hear me groan!

Blessings

KB

PS I wrote this a few years ago. Since then, I have found a good plumber I tried to adopt because he was fixing things around here so often.