This past winter was the first at our new home and one day after being scared by Holmes on Homes (about leaking basements), I decided to clear the snow in the back away from the house. Since we didn’t clear things out at all, it was a pretty thick pile of snow. The layer closest to the ground was slushy and heavy. My back was feeling the strain and when I hit that last, slushy layer, I was thinking about just leaving it for the sun to melt away. 

That’s what often happens when we clean anything up in our lives. Looks can be deceiving. You think that to fix thing issue up, it won’t take that long or require much effort. Kind of like surface mold or those pimples that have a little white head and some major ammunition deep underneath. This is especially true when dealing with the wrongs we commit. But sooner or later, you’ve got to clean that stuff up.

As a result of numerous failed attempts at cleaning up the crap in my life, I’ve learned how valuable envisioning the end-state is to perseverance. So, in the little projects I take on around the house, I try to remember that it is well worth the time and energy, even if nobody notices. Didn’t see anybody else in the townhouse complex clear their backyards, but that shouldn’t matter, right?