The Renovating Reverend

We’ve begun to paint the house. It’s been various shades of green for many years. Most recently, it has been the green color of mint chocolate chip ice cream. We’d rather that it be a different color, so it is now in the process of becoming a chocolate brown, with the trim in beige, and some accents of a rusty red. The porch ceiling is a sky blue, as tradition and practicality dictate (Victorian home owners learned that wasps like to build their nests on white surfaces, but will avoid blue ones). The painting process is going slowly, as we paint whenever we have time and the rain holds off. While we’ve been out in the front yard, we’ve heard favorable comments from passersby. A couple of people have thanked us rather enthusiastically for painting. The other day, however, there was a slightly different experience. Steve had climbed up and stepped onto the porch roof to begin painting the second story. He hadn’t been up there long before a woman who was driving by stopped to yell from her car, “Hey! The green looked better!” Although we’d previously heard nothing but positive comments, this negative comment felt momentarily discouraging…until we just had to laugh about it, because it was so odd and out of the blue. Some of our neighbors have much more astonishing house painting stories that they can recount in vivid detail. One couple actually had angry people knocking on their door after a lavender tinted primer had been applied (and before the final two coats of a light brown were sprayed).

For some reason, this all made me think of the saying that it takes three “atta boys” to equal one “you idiot.” Negative comments can often seem to carry more weight, while positive ones don’t sink in as easily, even when the feedback we receive is overwhelmingly positive. This is yet another reminder for me to watch my words, so I’m paying attention and putting renewed effort into doing just that. And, in that vein, I will offer some encouragement to focus on the “atta boys” in life, and to give as many as possible to others. As Paul of Tarsus wrote in the New Testament book of Ephesians, “Watch the way you talk… Say only what helps, each word a gift.”

May the gifts of graceful words sink deeply into your heart…and may you choose your colors carefully!