Carpe Diem, Bad Timing and Sustained Enthusiasm - Reflections on Home Maintenance

On 29 February 2008, in a lovely two bedroom unit in the North-Western suburbs of Johannesburg, a geyser burst. On 1 March, we officially moved into that unit. In May, the transfer took place and on Wednesday 25 June, reparations to the resulting damages finally started.

It feels like we are moving into our house for a second time with practically the whole house turned into a construction site. Thursday night we slept over at friends from our church community who stays in the same complex. We were thankful for this courtesy given the discomfort we faced (and still face). It is hugely frustrating. We had not even hosted a house-warming because we wanted to wait for our place to be in a good condition when we do it.

To add to the frustration, the contractors ended up doing a really sloppy job on the skirtings and wall-paint. I have realised that I hate the kind of conflict that puts me in the position of critiquing the work of others. I would much rather say "thanks guys, job well done, the cheque is in the mail". I don't like being the deficit-o-meter! I want to be appreciative! So I've been torn between this and making sure that productive, high quality work is delivered.

I ended up pointing out all the deficiencies in a pretty nice manner, which probably didn't communicate the issue well. The contractor accused me of being unreasonable. I wonder if telling the guy that I truly believe his work would be highly appreciated in a clinic for the blind would have communicated my dissatisfaction better. In my discussion with him yesterday, his rather poor apology at least had some traces of honesty in it - he and his assistants were really tired of doing the same job for four days. They were fed-up and lacking the concentration, ended up making silly mistakes. They'll come back later and try to give it a fresh start. I'm not sure how relieved I should feel.

Such is life! Our story won't go down as something unique or even nearly as agonising as many stories you can pick up from any consumer forum. It did leave me with a couple of questions:

Firstly, how often do we wait on something before we start to live? How much time is spent on postponement? In the words of Al Pacino's character in the movie Scent of a Woman, "…some people live a lifetime in a minute". Yet, we often put off the stuff we want because the timing seems imperfect. So maybe imperfect timing is part of the beauty. I'm told that musicians sometimes get the timing and sequence of the music purposefully incorrect, adding to the its dynamic nature. Perhaps something I can take "note" off.

Secondly, I'm wondering how often I display the same sort of diminishing enthusiasm in approaching my calling as a Christian. The trajectory of my Christian journey is often that on day four (some way into the process), I'm no longer as keen and alert as on day one. How do I make 'fourth day Christianity' just as inspiring as it was when I started off? After the novelty has worn off, the temporary flash of motivational zeal seems less accessible and the true colours come out, how do I sustain the enthusiasm?