My Mind Instructs me in the Night

I've been working on a project that has become something of an obsession. The general idea is to create an online store. But I don't know how to make a website (yet) and I don't want to rely on one of those ready-made ones that you can get for really an amazing low price. I have a feeling that eventually the price would rise and kill my idea...or that their limitations would hamper what I'm doing. Maybe not. But first I wanted to learn everything I could about websites. 


In the process I have learned an incredible amount about the amazing resources available online, and realize just how easy this whole thing will be. I've checked out some books. I didn't know that you can build a webpage on Microsoft Word! Wow. And I have, last I checked, 17 pages of links that have to do with starting a business, building a website, or finding work online. I think I could blog forever about this! But not today. 


The fantastic thing about this is that even though in this obsession, I've felt that I haven't been as deep into God's Word as I want to be, as I usually am (though I haven't neglected it, it just hasn't been as much at the forefront), I woke up this morning with some terrific ideas about this business idea. I know they're from God. I know that I can use them in setting up my business to His glory. 


One thing is that I can put a percentage of what it makes toward a cause my Katie woke me up to, the sex slave trade. Her church did a seminar about it, and she went to Nepal lately on a missions trip to see how her church could make a hole in it there. They worked through the organization, She is Safe. Katie learned a lot before and during her trip and inspired me, but I was thinking, "What can one (pretty broke) person do?" I felt helpless to do much for her cause, though I cared about it. But without my even thinking I was building this business idea for that purpose, God connected the dots for me. 


Then He also showed me, also in my sleep, the other ways this could glorify Him. I could have a blog connected with the business that could help others see the way to build their own online shop; therefore once I get my feet more or less on the ground with this, I could help others out of financial hopelessness. That's so exciting to me!


The icing on the cake? I even have a name for my business now, and I didn't strain my brain to find it; it was in my head when I woke up. I'm not telling what it is until the business is unveiled. But I'm excited. I tried finding a website with it online. There wasn't one; chances are it's available. Is God not amazing? Yes, we knew that!

Psalm 16:7 I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

He Who Supplies Seed for the Sower

Last night I was pondering one of the most encouraging passages, to my thinking, in the Bible. I realized that God has set up something of a pattern in the verses where He tells us why we should do His work. But since I didn't know the reference to the one that started it all, and was too tired to get up off the couch and go to the computer or the concordance, I went through much of the New Testament trying to find it--which was good for me! In the process I found a number of other verses that I was looking for and a few more I'd forgotten--the result being that this post is chock full of Bible verses. And I don't apologize for that--it's the best part.
The favorite that got it all started was this:

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! --2 Corinthians 9:10-15

It makes me realize that we have the privilege of clearly being a channel of God's provision, that what we can provide for others and do for His Kingdom is really vast, in spite of the fact that our lives on earth are finite--sort of like how the electricity going through a wire can continue as long as the switch is on. Our service doesn't depend on the size of our bank account, or how much food is in our fridge, or how much gas is in our car; the source is God, not ourselves. Which brings me to the perfect biblical example of this picture:

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." John 6:8

I could go on typing, but I think you know the story, and how it illustrates the verse above. If one boy's little loaves of bread and little bit of fish can feed the five thousand (plus their wives and kids), God is just waiting for the opportunity to show Himself off through us. Not only that, He tells us many times that He wants us to be out and about, doing His will, His work.

Whoever serves is to do so a one who serves in the strength that God supplies... 1 Peter 4:11

We are capable of providing to others beyond our own capability:

Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

Our abundance, even if we have earned it, is a gift from God, not for our own good but for the good of those around us.

Our abundance a supply for their need 2 Corinthians 8:14

But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality--at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack." 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

The pattern I was realizing as I thought about this first verse was that in many cases, God asks us to give because of what we have already received at His hand.

What do you have that you did not receive? 1 Corinthians 4:7b

...bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. ... Colossians 3:13

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Sometimes He isn't stressing what we have already received, but even better, what we have been promised that we will someday receive--maybe even in the here and now as well:

"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. "All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:8-12

But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:18-19

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Colossians 3:23-24

"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions." Mark 11:25

Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Sometimes it states both reasons--because of what we have received and because of what will be given--which really apply in all cases anyway:

"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Luke 6:35-38

When we don't do what God intends, it brings others to have to fill the gap:

Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me. Philippians 2:29-30

And the utmost reason to be active in His service,

"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Matthew 25:40

Faith is Foundational to Family!

Today Pastor Ken preached about Ephesians 6, regarding the armor of God. In the context, he showed, it reflects Paul's concern for protection of the Church. He at one point said that the Church was Paul's primary concern, in contrast with how some people think it would be family, or individuals. We are to bear the armor of God as part of the protection of the Church, though it doesn't mean the other would not be true and commendable as well. I would say protection of the Church results in protection of the family.
I can testify to that! Our family would not exist were it not for the faith; I wonder at so many families that function, however dysfunctionally, without Christ, and how much better and safer their lives would be with faith at the center, with a solid church as their primary support.
I remember working at Boeing and hearing the verse, "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). I remember walking quite a ways from my work area, to a man I hardly knew--but I knew he was a Christian. I asked him to pray for our family, and I recited the verse to him. I then went back to my seat. That was shortly before I was a believer. Shortly after that, I came to faith.
Shortly after that, thanks to the recommendation of the woman in charge of our women's retreat with our church (which was the first church we attended, but I only came to Christ shortly before we changed churches, and my husband was not a believer there), I prayed that God would take the burden I was dealing with, trouble with my mother-in-law, and help me, because I could not understand what was going on.
The next day, in discussion with my in-laws, who (unbeknownst to me) my husband had invited over, we reached an impasse at all efforts to come to some agreement to work things out. I remember thinking that the only solutions in my hand were divorce or suicide. (I was only a brand-new Christian at this point.) Within minutes of that, I found out that my mother-in-law had been diagnosed two years previously with Alzheimers. I was the first in the family that my secretive father-in-law told, because it had affected our family in the worst way. Knowing that enabled me to understand so much, and excuse my mother-in-law for the hostility that I could attribute to her disease--I could forgive her, even though it still took a long time to fully do so. So faith saved our marriage and family at that point. Praise God!
A few years later I was pregnant and had gone in for an ultrasound, and left on a trip. While we were in Portland, I called the doctor who had been frantically trying to get a hold of me. She told me there over the phone that she thought I had an "ectopic" pregnancy and that I should terminate it, or could bleed to death--this, even though I thought I'd found a pro-life doctor. I wasn't about to. Any time I thought of doing so, I was disturbed. Whenever I thought there was no way I could do that, I had complete peace. I read through Psalm 139 many times in those days. Two weeks later another ultrasound revealed that it wasn't ectopic after all. It was a very tough pregnancy over all, and we weren't sure he would make it to birth, but our church was praying for our baby. Our ten-year-old son Tim is a testimony that faith is primary to family. Faith in Christ certainly was crucial in bringing him into our family unscathed.
As we drove home we discussed these things. Tim didn't realize that our marriage had been saved because of our faith; then he was reminded of his beginnings, and he thanked me for sparing his life--though it wasn't me, it was only by God's grace that his life was spared. Who knows how many of our family's stories of God's provision and protection he has not heard, or was too young to remember? I'm going to have to go over them with him again, and make sure he knows how our family can personally testify in so many ways to God's infinite goodness!
The Church is our family, in the most eternal sense and in many temporal ways as well. The Church is crucial to family and individual health. If the Church had not been protected over the last 2,000 years, but had succumbed to Satan's schemes, I would have made some horrible decisions. Our family would not be a unit any more; I might not be here; Tim would certainly not be here. Bearing the armor of God is for protection of the Church. Protection of the Church is family protection; it is self-protection. It is God's will, above all that, and in part, we might assume, because of all that.

A Gradual Transformation and a Self-Examination

If you've read much of my other writings about our little church, you may have gathered that it is in a pretty dilapidated state. I haven't fully blogged regarding what its problem is. About 50 years ago, I gather, it burned. The church had no insurance and rebuilt with what they had. Because it wasn't a wealthy church, they built it poorly with cinderblock, unreinforced with any rebar. Over the years the walls have become troubled with moisture leakage, and therefore within the walls, within the cinderblocks, we have mold and mildew. (This doesn't show visibly very much on the walls, but there are places where the odor of it gets kind of strong sometimes, and affects some members of the congregation more strongly than others.)
The congregation has been planning to build, but with some frustration over gaining road access to the beautiful property that one couple kindly gave the church. With plans to build, and a small congregation, there hasn't been much interest, energy or money to maintain the building we have, especially since the structure itself will probably be of no value when we sell; only the property. Still, with no particular building timeline in view, I've been praying for vision and clarification, and working on painting the inside, with help from three others, and we're getting a work party together to fix up some of the outside grout so that the outside also can be pressure-washed and painted.
It seems to me that God's hand has been very strongly favorable toward getting these things done. I've had unusual time, energy, and free paint, even in the right neutral, clean and cheery colors--the neighboring city has a program that recycles paint to avoid having it in the dump. Also, we lived in a 1907 fixer-upper house for 17 years where I learned how to research and repair things; I know and understand some of what old buildings are about and what it is to paint. It has occurred to me, to my delight, that God is using that 17 year experience for His Kingdom now. So I've been there a lot painting. Still, I end up getting a little extreme. I work and get a little overexuberant, a little strident maybe, lately, in my desire to see it as fixed up as we can do--not bossing anyone around, just poking around more than anyone is used to, and trying to find any place where a mold problem can be easily fixed (since reducing its odor was one of my main motivations).
I think our pastor looks a little askance at all this activity and change, though I was hoping it would encourage him. (And I think it has, except when he sees me a little overly absorbed in it.) He preached on Mary and Martha last Sunday. It just occurred to me now, was that a hint? (Surely not...) Still, I don't think anyone in the world has heard me breathe one complaint, one "Why don't you make Mary get up and help me?" No, I haven't. I love every brushstroke, every roller stroke; if "Mary" wants to help, it's great, but I'm having fun on my own. It's so gratifying to see so much change in so little time!
Still, when Pastor came down to help me by getting a dehumidifier out to dry up some moisture I'd left by cleaning a wall, I walked through with him and discussed various issues along the way. I realized I was making him somewhat nervous. He never makes me nervous (probably never makes anyone nervous, at least unless they should have reason to be) and I was sorry to think I'd troubled him. He pointed out later that I should make sure I'm getting my work orders at the feet of Jesus. Another link between Mary, Martha, and me. Mainly, I think, Martha and me. (Sigh.)
So if I've been praying pretty continually regarding all the work, but then getting a little strident as I go, I think something is getting mixed up. Am I dropping His orders and filling my own? Are my motivations wrong? I felt Pastor's nervousness meant I'd been lacking for the right attitude and trampling toes some, though I had been thoroughly enjoying the work; actually getting kind of excited because some plans were becoming actualized and things were going so well. I just have to be careful how I affect others along the way, and that I go in His strength and not my own.
I hope to get a picture of the church as it is (didn't take any before-pictures of the inside) to post, and then post one after it's painted so we can compare before and after shots regarding the outside paint job. It's a great little building, in my mind, though probably just because I associate it with how great it is to be there on Sunday mornings. It's the best! I'd rather we'd keep that little building than have a towering cathedral, if the people inside had to be different too.
I asked Pastor today at church whether I had indeed made him nervous, trampled his toes, so to speak...and he said no, that his main concern was that I was actually getting my orders from Christ. So all is good, and I just imagineth too much. Praise God!

Might as Well Make a Bucket List; I'll Kick it Sooner or Later

I started rather flippantly working to write out a "Bucket List" of things I want to do before I kick the bucket while I'm still alive, whatever. I don't mean to say that I wouldn't be content to die before this was done; I've lived already far longer than some, more than I deserve, and there's been a lot of good in it. God is great.
I googled "bucket list" on other websites, and didn't get as many ideas as I thought, but I did change my perspective about writing the list. Many of them were things I don't want to do, like skydive; there aren't material things that I would buy and feel fulfilled.
The significance of my list was greatly expanded upon by seeing what others had to say about pondering such things. There was one quote at a USA Today site that I liked: "'We are all encouraged to leave a small ecological footprint and a huge spiritual footprint,' Kerry Shook says." A huge spiritual footprint. Now that's a good general aim for my list! Then it's a list not only for the here and now trend-wise, not only for the future goal-wise, but for eternity, faith-wise. How much more significantly can you live than for eternity? And how better to build and live by that list before you get a terminal disease, while you still have vitality and clear mind and hopefully some significant time, and while you're living for joy and purpose itself, and not just under a threat that it all will end? At a website called bucketlistblog, there was a pertinent quote that I'd like to share here:

"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882)

That is a great passage to keep in mind in the making of a bucket list. Keep in mind those who come after you, who recall your impact once you are gone. Will it direct and inspire them to better things than they would have had if they had not known you? That would be a significant aspect of a spiritual footprint that I would like to make.
I also went to an article, "How to Create and Manage Your Bucket List Before You Kick," that gave some rather good advice for creating a serious bucket list, one that might be useful for really trying and attending to; a real tool to make sure that you're living your life to live it rather than let it pass without conscious direction.
I'll live in the here and now as far as trends go, doing this "bucket list" trend while it's still a trend...after all, here and now may be all I've got, on this earth! (I think that's a funny thought, but only time will tell.) If it impacts the long-term and the eternal, that would be fantastic! Okay, enough intro. I have to get to the list! This is without regard to the reality of finances and other constraints that God in His wisdom put in place:
1. I have always wanted to take our kids around the country on a trip--like my family did when I was little. We moved to Indiana via a northern route, seeing the Rockies, Glacier, Waterton, etc., and came back via a southern route, seeing all sorts of red rock features and turquoise jewelry stands. I never saw Mt. Rushmore, and I want to see it if I can...along with the other national parks and the Statue of Liberty and other American landmarks (well, I'd say landmarks worldwide, but I'm trying to be somewhat specific and not too selfish!) I'd like our kids to see the Grand Canyon, too. Wow! God's creation is great! And to think that's just a little tiny crack in a tiny little pebble in a tiny little solar system in a great big universe...it's amazing!
2. It would be fun to see my kids get married (not to each other) and have kids.
3. If it were up to me, bring all our relatives to come to know Christ. And my neighbors, and while I'm wishing, people in authority, people not in authority...
4. I'd have my finances all in order, have my will up-to-date, have everything where the people who need to find it can find it. I actually was kind of there once, but that was a long time ago.
4. If I visit a country as a tourist, my first choice for beauty would be Italy because of a History of Art class I took in college. For faith and learning, it would be Israel, to stay there for a while and really know it. I'd also love to explore Mexico and South America. Never been to Hawaii, either, but I'd rather see these other places first.
5. I would like to go to China or Russia to do some English-as-a-Second-Language work. At least once.
6. I'd like to memorize much more of the Bible; especially the New Testament. If it weren't for obvious limitations, the Old Testament too. It would be fun to draw verses out of context all the time and pepper my conversation with them, and drive people crazy. No, that wouldn't be my main aim, but I've always thought it would be fun. Just a little crazy!
7. I'd really love to be able to say my whole house was clean and organized and honed down to the things I really want to keep; rid of the junk! And be telling the truth. And be moved to a smaller house besides, with less demands that distract from the important things.
8. It would be fun to have a party and invite all the friends we can remember having, that we can get back in touch with. At least, I think it would be fun. There'd be a lot of people, after 5 churches!
9. I'd love to be physically fit. Why this is this far down the list, I don't know. I'd want to get there before the trip to Italy. But more so that I can see my kids have kids, and not be a physical burden to them in the process.
10. I'd like to have my photos organized (of course this goes with #6), but also scanned into the computer so I can put them on disks, or on Flickr, or blog with them, or whatever. I did do some, a while back. It's amazing how much editing can improve them, and how pictures that you think are too dark can be lightened up and you find things you never thought were there. And I'd probably throw half away, because they really aren't all that good and life is too short to keep looking at them or storing them or sorting through to get to the good ones.
11. Take a dancing class--for dancing as a dance partner, and not as a tv performing dancer, and not as a jazz dancer, and nothing sleazy. Just fun, for at parties...just for fun!
12. Teach someone illiterate to read...though I don't know anyone illiterate to my knowledge. (Though I did teach our kids to read...and that is a thrill!)
13. Go river rafting--on a fairly mild river. And maybe rock climbing--on a fairly mild rock.
14. Learn to identify at least the fairly major constellations. I know the big dipper and the little dipper. In fact, I can see the entire big dipper, perfectly framed, through our bathroom skylight, for what--a few months of the year? It's neat.
15. Register to be a bone-marrow donor. I think I may have to lose some weight first. They have standards about this, after all. I went in once, but I couldn't get answers to some questions, so I didn't actually register.
LASTLY but Importantly: I'd like to continually live according to eternity and not just for the present day; yet live for the present day with contentment, and with eternity in mind. Keeping this list in mind, in view, and revised and added to as I think of improvements.
Okay, I'm using this as a tag for you. It's your turn. What's on your bucket list? Make it meaningful! Let me know when you've made one. I want to see it.

A Lot of Paint and Some Pondering

I've been painting like crazy around the house lately. It is, we hope, the last step before re-doing floors so we can sell our house later this year. We're hoping that we can do much of the floor installation ourselves too, to save some money, but it will probably be a huge challenge. We haven't ever been big into table saws or mitre saws, and the work will probably involve the use of these to one extent or another. If it's too challenging, carpeting will cover more of the floor than we presently hope.
While I paint, I think about things. I ponder various problems and issues we deal with, I pray for people I'm concerned about, and I wash up in a hurry to answer the phone or to go to the store for supplies or to make dinner. My general housekeeping and cooking quality goes down the tubes when I have other projects in process. Painting is consuming work! Clean a lot, paint a little, clean drips a little, find missed spots a little...and start all over again in another place. I spend as much time fixing my mistakes as doing the original work. Still, especially on the walls that I've never painted, covering the builder-quality paint with a new paint with some sheen and substance to it feels oh, so good.
Tim had three of his friends over for the day yesterday; that's a good thing, because when I'm painting, he doesn't do very well at keeping himself occupied. There's only so much a kid can do out in the yard alone, and the tv becomes too convenient. (We've had his eyes examined, and the doctor says he can't focus well yet--he needs eye therapy, so until we have insurance again, reading by himself is a rather short-term occupation.) While his friends were over, they would one by one come into the entry where I was using an extension rod to reach the highest portions of the wall. The extension goes up about 15 feet, I'd guess, and I think it's very nifty. May God bless the person who invented that, and all his offspring! I never would paint those walls without it--a person could die from the fall from a ladder!
I was pretty surprised at the boys' choice of questions. "What are you doing?" (This with two five-gallon paint buckets, one one-gallon paint can, a painting tray, various brushes, a roller, wet rags and little corner tools etc. scattered across the floor where I was working, and the extension rod in my hands.) "Painting." "Oh." (Two boys asked that.) "What color are you painting?" asked another, later. "Brown," I said, holding a paintbrush with brown paint in my hand. I was touching up the paint over the front door at that point. When I was using the extension rod, I thought that would catch their attention more than anything, but none of them seemed to be in the least impressed by it.
Considering the low cost of paint, it hugely improves the looks of the place--that and the cleaning of cobwebs and dust that I discover along the way. Our ledges over our entry were huge dust collectors, and having cleaned and painted them, the climb up the stairs seems much brighter and will be easier to clean with the shinier paint. I've painted the high entry walls, the ledges, the stairway down to the basement, the family room, and I'm now working on painting our bedroom. I also touched up a number of other walls. There are a few more rooms to go. I found two places where just-painted corners got nicked again, needing plaster and texture before paint, and about four just-painted walls where fingerprints and mud splashes repopulated the surface. I guess I can be thankful that we only have one boy around most of the time! I may never finish, at this rate.
Still, I rarely feel this productive. It's easy to let a lot of time go by without doing anything that has a long-term effect to it, and many days would seem to have nothing much to show for them. Sad to think how short-term this long-term thing actually is...we'll only physically see it for as long as we own the house. If I didn't think it would help to sell it, I probably wouldn't bother. Hopefully it will make it sell faster, and maybe for more money, so that we'll be able to buy the next house with less debt than otherwise.
It makes me want all the more to focus on the things that give my life the longest-term effect for the time and energy invested in them. Cooking and cleaning are so daily and ongoing that it's hard to see any long-term good in them. I guess raising kids and being married (hopefully all to the glory of God) and growing in faith are the long-term, nay, eternal elements of being an at-home wife and mother...the dishwashing and cooking and laundry, and even painting, are just necessary distractions along the way.