Yes, I know, I must’ve been so bad for my own wife to fire me, right?
Thankfully, it wasn’t for my ‘expert coaching’ I offer to give her when she’s in a tricky situation.
No, last weekend, I got fired from painting.
I like to think of myself as a creative kind of person.
I love to write, and some of you know about my various endeavours in that field.
All of you receive this weekly email and I am always so grateful for every word of encouragement I receive.
In short, I am at my happiest when being creative but not when it comes to using a paint brush.
I have worn prescription glasses since I was twenty-eight years old (you read about my expensive sunglasses saga last week) and I am aware that even when wearing my glasses – which is most of the time – I can still miss things here and there.
This isn’t usually a huge problem when it comes to standard decorating kind of painting.
I never attempt any kind of artistic painting. The last time I did that was under duress during an art lesson at school, and by the end of it, my teacher, Mrs. Olsen, simply took away my brush and paper and quietly disposed of both, muttering, “Never mind” to herself.
So, having survived a small number of basic decorating tasks, involving paint brushes and rollers, I was rather looking forward to doing my bit in the lounge last Saturday.
The initial signs were good, with encouraging, even positive comments coming from my wife.
I had almost finished the wall my wife had assigned to me, and then she let out a despairing groan.
“No, no, oh darling! This is not good! I tell you what, you leave this to me, and you go and …”
I won’t get technical and tell you what was wrong with my painting but suffice it so say, it wasn’t up to the standard we were both wanting.
I felt bad at effectively leaving my wife to do the decorating all by herself.
Then I realised she had fired me from the job and whilst I could protest and promise to do a better job, there was no guarantee I would be able to deliver on that promise.
The moral of the story is, of course, know your strengths and play to them.
My weaknesses (and they are more than I like to think, I’m sure) have a habit of creating a problem when I pretend they don’t exist.
Your weaknesses, or as I like to call them, non-strengths, are there for a reason.
It is impossible to be good at everything.
Over time, some non-strengths can be turned into strengths of course.
I now know that perhaps painting isn’t going to be one of them.
At least not painting in the lounge, or kitchen, or bedrooms. Anywhere, in other words, where the finished article will be on display for all to see.
Perhaps that’s why I was able to do a reasonable job on the outside of our house, right at the top, no less, out of everyone’s way.
And the only people who may notice, are those who are walking along the beach promenade and are interested in the tops of the nearby houses.
The only pressure was in overcoming my fear of heights!
Until next time, be blessed to be a blessing!
