Zen and the Art of Painting the Kitchen

I have to paint my kitchen this weekend. It's all white -- walls, cabinets, appliances. My realtor says there's just too much white in there, and it needs some color. Neutral color, of course.

My house seems to be turning varying shades of brownish taupe-tan-beige. It is fading into the impersonal.

So anyway, I had several paint chips up on the wall yesterday, and because I couldn't decide, I asked Hunk 'O Man what he thought. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: "So, which one do you like?"

HOM: "Ummmmm..."

Me: "You can't tell any difference between them, can you?"

HOM: "Ummmmmm..."

Me: "They all look exactly alike to you. Never mind."

HOM: "Yep. See ya."

Typical man.

Because I couldn't think of what else to do, I prayed about it. And I felt really ridiculous praying about it -- it's paint color, for crying out loud! Jeesh, Jen, just pick one already! I couldn't believe that something so insignificant could paralyze me. I felt really stupid. "Dear God, I know this is really dumb, and I know it probably doesn't even matter, but could You please guide me to the correct paint color?"

And then suddenly -- I realised this: when I pray, I break the grip of worry. Exactly like what Rick Warren said -- when I give, I break the grip of materialism. It's a universal principle.

So in this case, the paint wasn't the thing. The going back to my Father to ask for help was the thing. Paint really had very little, if anything, to do with it. Even when it is something so inane as a paint color, I still need to pray. I need to break that grip that paralyzes me from action.

And this is true no matter the thing. We tend to think that tiny specks of things in our lives don't matter to God. In all honesty, they might not. But the fact that we go to Him and ask for help because of those things -- this He cares about deeply.

So I finally broke down and chose one of the many taupe/brown/tan colors tonight.

(Hunk O Man was right. They all do look the same. God is laughing at me.)

Hopefully we won't have some kind of butterfly effect thing where the sale of the house hinges on the color in the kitchen. But then again, you never know.

So I'll be praying about that too.

xoxox