It’s a scorcher! Wow! Just a month ago we had a snowstorm to rival snowstorms and now we have August heat in May! Minnesota can’t make up its mind!

Now, I’m not complaining…I’ll take the heat any day over the cold. Without central air it’s a little brutal in our house though! Friday we went to a movie to get out of the heat and today church was a welcome relief.

We decided a while ago we’d have a “project weekend” this weekend. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we scheduled that! Sitting in the shade with lemonade and a popsicle is one thing on a 98 degree day. Working in the pasture and around the yard is another!

An awesome and I believe slightly crazy friend of ours came to help yesterday. She and the kids cleared the pasture of fallen branches and old fencing, all the while sweating profusely! It was one of those projects that we’ve wanted to get done for a while and I’m so glad it’s done! The pasture looks so beautiful now. I’m sure the cows don’t care at all, but I do. There’s something about coming down our driveway and the first thing you see is that big open space of green grass with shade trees and cows contentedly grazing. Without the logs and branches and the old fencing running aimlessly down the middle of the pasture, it’s a sight to behold! It really brings me joy.

I’m really thankful for that friend and my kids! I couldn’t be out there hauling logs in this heat at 29 weeks pregnant! I was talking to my friend today and here’s our conversation…

Me: “You know, our friendship isn’t really fair at all. You do piano with my kids, come work your tail off in stifling heat, give us leftovers from the church picnic…and what do I give you?… A hug?!”

Her: “I love those kinds of projects! I love coming to your place and seeing a thing accomplished. Sometimes you work and work and don’t see progress and wonder, what’s the point…and you get to the place where you just need to move sticks!”

It was funny, yet profound. Life really is like that, isn’t it? I mean, so often we work and work and really don’t see the reward or the end. Think about laundry…Even raising kids can seem interminable and as if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. There’s so many jobs in life where it just goes round and round and you kind of start to wonder why you do it.

I’ve wondered that a million times as I sweep and mop my kitchen floor. What is the point? In no less than five minutes it’s going to be sticky and sandy again!

Sometimes you just need to move sticks.

You just need that job that has a beginning and an end and there’s a distinct difference when you are finished. You just need to see what you’ve accomplished in a relatively short amount of time and be proud of what you’ve accomplished. You need that satisfaction of a job well done, even if it is 98 degrees outside!

I think our kids need those jobs too. School can seem like it goes round and round. Chores can seem endless. Cleaning their room over and over can make them think, what’s the point. Sometimes they just need those quick, satisfying jobs as much as we need them. They need to see the end result too.

We all need that. Those tasks that take a long time and maybe don’t give us a quick result are all good things and we can’t give them up. They do eventually pay off; it may just take longer. But those shorter, get ’em done jobs are so good for us too. They give us a boost to keep going on the longer, less-quickly rewarding jobs.

So, in the midst of the round and round, what sticks are you going to move today?