Life as a Construction Project

Last weekend I went to Steve's job site with him. He's been supervising construction on a million dollar remodel in West Seattle. Until Saturday, I had only seen pictures - pictures of the old structure that was there, and lots of pictures of all the bits and pieces that have gone into the rebuild thus far. I was impressed with the pictures. To see the place up close and personal, I was blown away. My man knows his shit. As my friend Jen says, "Watching your man work is HOT!" Whew. Yeah.

But that's not what I came here to talk about. Sort of not. Let's just stick with construction.

As I sat there at the top of the unfinished steps on the third floor, watching ferries go back and forth on Puget Sound, waiting for Steve to finish whatever magical construction thing he was doing, I had plenty of time to look around and ponder. The house has floors, walls and a roof, but it's all roughed in with lumber. None of the finish work has been started yet.

I looked at all the bits and pieces that had already gone into making the structure. Even to my untrained eye, it was obvious the job was being done well. The steps felt solid. The walls didn't shudder in the wind. As Steve's mate, I've been regaled with process and progress of the work it takes to build such a thing, with each nail, hinge and board it has taken to get this far. I've been privy to challenges and successes. As happy as he will be when the project is done, it's obvious that his greatest pleasure is in the doing of the thing, in each accomplishment that happens on the way to completion.

We would do well to look at our lives that way. We are construction projects. It's easy to look at ourselves as something unfinished and completely miss the quality workmanship that's happening along the way. We forget to give ourselves a nod for having a sturdy foundation, or for having enough fortification in place that we aren't blown off course with each little storm. We get so focused on goals and end results that we don't stop to appreciate the work that we do on ourselves every single day, or see every step as an achievement.

Stop and look around. Look at your life. It's not perfect (nothing is), but it's not finished yet either. Take some pride in the work you've done that has gotten you this far. I'll bet the view isn't so bad at all.