Square and Level

I have a shed floor! ...well almost.  The plywood still awaits.  It is 8x15 feet square*, and I mean square.  It measures one corner to another - along either diagonal - to within one 32nd of an inch!  It is dead on the bubble level on three sides and one shim away of level on the fourth.

I haven't totaled up the cost of the project so far, but it includes sore hands, a bad left knee, and a stiff back.  I've been working during most of the day, even in the hottest parts; digging holes, moving gravel, leveling 4x4 skids, cutting lumber, hanging joists, hammering nails, and running back and forth for needed hardware.**

It hasn't always been the fun I'd hoped it would be.  Much of it was just hard.  But, there have been moments when I experienced the joy of finishing some aspect of the work and having it come together just as I had seen it in my mind.

That sense of completion was why I decided to build the shed myself.  There is an ab-sence of completion in much of pastoral ministry.  Too many tasks don't really see their full conclusion in this world.  Those that do, simply reset themselves every Monday morning, and it is rare to have everything "square and level".

I am one-fourth into my Time.  Two of my goals are well along:  1) the shed, (which will make room for my woodshop); and 2) all this week I have had trouble remembering the day of the week.

*120 square feet is as big as I can build without a permit.

**Using jargon like "shim" and "skids" and "joists", and carrying a tape measure clipped to my front jeans pocket, is part of the fun!