The Daughter of a Builder…

I walked up to the lot and new fresh cut lumber was lying there ready to take its form. The scent filled my senses and oh the nostalgia of the smell of wood and sawdust. I grew up watching my dad build houses, and create things from the ground up, using scraps to make shelves, picture frames, tables, stools, jewelry stands, guitar stands, coffee tables, end tables, you name it, we’ve made it. Our garage always housed a chop saw and all the tools to create.

I think every child of a builder dreams of their dad getting to build them a house someday. And my day has come. It will be the fastest build he has ever managed. We poured a concrete slab on Thursday, February 22, and I came back from a business trip on March 1^st, to my house standing!

My family is a family of builders, it is in our blood. We build things. There are principles you learn from creating or building something from nothing. There are habits and work ethics you learn from cleaning up a job site, helping to hang siding, learning the proper respect for power tools, or simply handing your daddy boards.

He has ingrained deep in our bones the laws of use.

1.      Use what you have and more will be given.

2.      What do you have in your hands? What resources, abilities, and opportunities are in your hands? Start there. Don’t be paralyzed by what you do not have. If you have a hammer, start with a hammer, if you have some old fence boards, what can you do with them? Start with what you’ve got.

3.      If you will be faithful over little, you will be entrusted with much. But it starts with the little.

4.      We only do excellent.

5.      But when things aren’t perfect, we become artists and make beauty out of the imperfections.

There is no way to the dreams in your heart except one day, one step, one board at a time. You have to start, start with what you have, be a good steward of what you have been given, make it beautiful, and watch and see what happens.