Working with what God gives...

July 2018

More lessons related to the finite nature of humanity, the last few days.

After I returned from the United Kingdom in 2001 (although there was return stays until the PhD Viva was passed in 2009), the Boss had declining health and for other unrelated reasons, we needed a new residence. A condominium was purchased for under $100, 000 Canadian which is now worth approximately three times that amount with a minimal mortgage remaining.

As I have homecared since 2002, and I am the last remaining local relative, legal measures have been made in order for me to inherit, with full support of my family and the strata, this property. The measures were taken for legal reasons, not any personal issues with any relative.

Up until recently, with now having a paid career, my focus has been finishing the PhD, and then finding work with that PhD. This in part, but not in totality, explains my diligence in writing online articles, especially academic ones on Dr. Russell Norman Murray. This work has definitely assisted me career wise.

The place was never a 'dump' and I kept where we 'lived' clean and workable, but the storage room in my upstairs section was neglected and filled with broken up cardboard boxes and related. The sunroom next to my bedroom was only used by the Boss once, but was too hot for her. The sunroom is a former deck that was turned into a sunroom sometime between building construction is 1987 and our purchase in 2002. The inside has vinyl siding and is not insulated. The result is outside temperatures inside the room as in quite cold and quite warm.

To make matters worse, with my Dr. Freeze attitude, keeping in mind this is a virtual second floor to our unit, I have only turned the heat on in the loft a handful of times since 2002. I may have noted online previously that without any heat, several summers ago, an old computer listed the loft room temperate as 38 degrees Celsius. which is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The sunroom was likely warmer than that...

But, I could just avoid the sunroom in the very warmest days. I could turn on the heat in my bedroom beside the sunroom which does pipe in heat from the vent in the autumn and winter. But, I became set in my ways, and wrote the sunroom off, reasoning once I had full-time work I would renovate the 'ridiculous'' room without insulation that should have been left a deck. So at least my friends and I could enjoy it.

However, even with a well-paid Regional Director position, I would like to travel to Europe yearly, or at least the United States of America, if not Europe. I was not in full-time employment for many years and I am finding that if I save at a certain rate and avoid certain expenses, my bank account can look as if I worked all those years full-time.

I am deleting and cleaning to save!

First, in process, is the Boss's disastrous former bedroom, which with her dementia, led to basically a demented room. It is looking better, but still in process...

Several obsolete items removed.

Second, the small downstairs storage area underneath the stairs has been slightly cleaned out, but needs more work. But that is less relevant to life.

A few obsolete items removed.

Third, the storage room upstairs received a thorough clean-up this summer and even with it containing the furnace it still serves now as a fine dark place for segments of my growing book collection.

Obsolete items which prohibited progress were removed.

Fourth, I cleaned out the sunroom today. I cleaned the vinyl floor in its worst spots.

Obsolete items which prohibited progress were removed.

Yes, we need some minor renovations, mostly downstairs, minimally all the flooring needs to be cleaned, perhaps replaced especially in the heavy traffic areas downstairs where careworkers in shoes, visit the Boss. The place is very 1980's looking, I would like it to be modern like many of my neighbours with virtually identical units.

Actually, perhaps because of when I was born and what I viewed early in life, I would enjoy retro 1960's design, but I would also like modern.

However, I have to admit, I enjoy the sunroom as my work office. And now I only have my personal laptop on this desk and the old British gaming computer on the floor. The sunroom now contains my work computer and my former personal laptop kept to watch DVDs. It is reasonably clean and with the windows open and the annoying, bent by the wind, Venetian blinds pulled up, it is a relaxing, 'kool', cool place to work.

I was not open-minded enough in regard to the potential 'now' of my current residence, if I put in several hours over the spring-summer, deleting the obsolete and cleaning.

I need to be working more with what God gives as opposed to waiting for when improvements can be made. I need to be more thankful for what can be done with what I have now.

No matter how much I pray, study and fellowship, this side of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15) and the restored Kingdom (Revelation 21-22), I am left lacking with certain insights, at times, admittedly, even though I do pray for divine wisdom as permanently finite and temporarily sinful.