Ever have one of those days when it seems like you work hard all day only to end up further behind than when you started? That was how Tuesday seemed for me when we were working on pulling the base of an exterior wall back in toward the rest of the apartment. It seemed like every half hour or so, I had to make another run to the hardware store: longer bolts, shorter bolts, different drill bit, different washers, etc. Even though we were making progress, a gaping hole in the side of the living room where we’d taken out the old door and window made it seem otherwise. Appropriately, the end of the day found me making another run to the lumberyard. This time, it was dark already and we needed two sheets of plywood to close up the big hole in the wall. We’d worked nearly twelve hours with little to show except a big hole and a front door deck that had dropped about six inches at one corner. Frustrating day, one could say.

Yesterday was quite different. Within a half-hour, I had the deck jacked up and braced into place. I made a quick trip over to the hardware store for the right size washers. Another hour on the lag bolts had brought the wall back within a quarter-inch of plumb. In a nine foot run, that’s pretty good. In some places, we’d pulled the wall in nearly three inches. Kevin and I set in new studs under the header he and Travis had put in the day before. Then we put in the door and then the window. After Travis had to leave at four-thirty, Kevin and I kept working. He put in new metal flashing over the door while I worked on the kitchen window. We finished installing the trim and replacement siding pieces by flashlight and caulked the joints and edges around the door and windows. Once temperature and humidity cooperate a while, priming and paint will finish the job. A very productive day with much to show for it.

Thing is, the productivity of this day was largely accomplished by way of the previous day’s frustrations. All of those aggravating trips and the hours of effort with little visible progress set up the success of the next stage.

It is often like that in life and it is just that that makes it so critical that we persist. We cannot know when it is that just one more bolt, one more plank, one more prayer, one more kindness will bring about the desired result. While we must live with wisdom and accept the limitations of humanity, we ought to persevere in all that is good. It is worthy, too, to remember that doing what is good and proper and loving is not to be dependent on the perception of progress and result. In many cases, the doing itself is the desired result.

H. Arnett
1/21/10