Makeovers and Mountains

I bought a little cabin near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s always been a life goal of mine to have a place in those mountains and I have been living that dream ever since creditors deemed me worthy.

Owning it for several years now, I have been slowly (slow like molasses in wintertime) rehabbing it. Making it new. Improving it. But remodeling takes money and money is a lot like molasses where I come from. And it’s been a long winter.

Little by little I have reached the final phase of makeovers for this sweet little cabin. Isn’t that how all improvements are made? Little by little. One day you’re sucking a pacifier and totting around in Stride Rite’s and then before you blink good, you’re driving a SUV and buying a cabin in the Smokies. There’s a ton of living that occurred between the book ends of pacifiers and cabin buying but because it happened so subtly, I forgot all the details. None the less, I am living the dream.

I saved the kitchen remodel for last because I knew it would be the most involved. I had never done a big demo like this before but thank God and YouTube. There’s hours of videos of people doing all sorts of remodel and demolition jobs. And Keto. And crochet. And how septic tanks work. YouTube has become a great resource to me for building some confidence in areas where I have no business.

Sometimes it works out for me. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Some say I should have built a new cabin instead of messing around with this one for so long, but I don’t see it that way. I like the accomplished feeling of tearing something down and building a new something in its place. A sledgehammer, a Sawzall, and a few beers make for good therapy sessions. You should try it sometime. But save the beers for after the demolition because friends don’t let friends drink beer and operate power equipment. Truth.

Back in the kitchen, I had help (just in case y’all were concerned) and we left only the appliances standing. Everything else is gone except the dirty walls and bare floors. And a few holes I accidentally put in the dry wall. I didn’t do my prep work and search the YouTube channel for using a pry bar. Seemed simple enough.

Now that the destruction is complete and the crumbs have been swept up, I can start visualizing how I want it to look like in the end. The wall color. The cabinets. The countertops. The window treatments. Little by little.

I have been doing that with life thinking, too. I think about what I want the rest of my life to look like. The career. The relationships. The dreams. The accomplishments. The legacy. Little by little.

That’s what remodeling does for me. It opens my brain to think creatively about the possibilities against a blank canvas. It affords me the time to sit and think about the color, the shape and the size of my life. And when we talk about life, size matters.

I may never fully realize my potential. I hope I do. But it might not happen. But I will always rely on God and ask him to remodel me, to remake me, to change me. I have an idea of what I want the end result to look like, but it may not turn out that way. Even still, I know it’s going to be gorgeous. It always is with God.

Life is surprisingly difficult at times and surprisingly beautiful if we are willing to put in the work to go where He leads us. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear nothing because He is with me, Psalms 23:4.

And for that kitchen in my little dream cabin, I don’t have all the design elements laid out just yet. But it’s going to be gorgeous. Little by little.

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