Over the weekend Gavin and I have had some time in the workshop. There are some projects that I’ve been working on recently and I really wanted to focus on them more than I did. As seems to almost always be the case there just wasn’t enough time in the day to accomplish all I intended to. The decision I was faced with was either making less progress on my projects or not helping Gavin with a project he wanted to start. Well, I wasn’t able to come to a perfect decision, but I was able to find a way to get both rolling AND enjoy some quality time with Gavin in the workshop.

Yesterday he helped me for a couple of hours on my project as well as again this morning for a little while. After I got to a good point more quickly than expected thank to his help we moved on to his next project. Over the span of another couple of hours we cut all of his “Catan” tiles for the wooden version of our favorite board game he is going to make. In that time we talked about and demonstrated table saw safety, building jigs for multiple cuts, and how to cut angles. He even got to use what he’s been learning in geometry to confirm the 30 degree angles we needed to cut for the hexagons.

Sure, I’ve got some catch up to do on the other projects, but that’s okay. Spending time with him and engaging him in both processes was well worth finishing the project a little later than expected. By spending time with him we were also able to get his project to the point where he can do much of the work himself over the next week or two. Time with my boys in the workshop is always the right answer.

The sermon at church last night has been at the top of my mind all day. The focus was on remembering that favorite place for The Big Dude Upstairs to hang out is in the heart of people. Not just people who think the same way, but all people. If I truly love The Big Dude Upstairs I need to remember to treat each and every person as if they were Him as they truly are. This was powerful in the wake of all that happened last week. I’ve got much practice to do on this, but I am thankful for the reminder.

Have you watched the movie The Sixth Sense? Just to be safe I’ll do my best not to spoil it for you. When watching the director’s cut of it with commentary from M. Night Shyamalan he points out this really awesome hidden fact. At each very emotional point of the movie he uses the color red to emphasize the point. When watching the movie over again I couldn’t help but see the red so clearly and wonder how I’d missed it the first time around. Once I knew what to watch for I saw it often. Before I knew to focus on it I never consciously noticed it.

In reading my 2021 framework each morning and night I’m keeping it at the front of my brain. Throughout the day I’m seeing more and more “red.” There are so many more opportunities for me to exercise the right judgement, to act the right way, to live into my values, and to move one step closer to my dreams. Seemingly around every turn I’m seeing “red” that I never would have noticed before. Like I’ve written about often this week – I’ve still got a long ways to go before I’m living perfectly into it, but I’m seeing progress and, more importantly, I’m seeing the opportunities for improvement and growth.

Thanks!!!