Avoiding being blindsided

Julie Carlson, in her book Remodelista, makes the observation that the adage “If you want something done, do it yourself” only applies if you know what you’re doing.

I know a guy – I’ll call him “Doug” – who took on a major house project. He wanted to make his wife happy, & accommodate his growing family, so he meticulously designed a substantial addition, got it all approved, & commenced building.

My friend is a hard-working, capable guy, & he was determined to do all the work himself.  And he did! Every time I saw him, he’d describe a problem he solved, or a pesky delay he saw through, or a significant “oops” he recovered from. He worked on this addition – & his family lived in a house “under construction” – for literally years. Above all, he could always beam & remind me that “I’m doing it all by myself!”

The day finally came – the addition was finally complete! – when Doug could remove everything that separated the two structures; it was “wedding day”! It was a day long anticipated by the whole family.

I almost hate to describe what happened next. Because when Doug removed the siding of the original house to connect the two structures, he discovered that the studs – the walls of the original house – were rotten. Really rotten. Really, really rotten.

He ended up tearing down the entire original house in order to commence… addition #2, to replace the original house in its entirety.

Now Doug knew lots about lots of stuff. He was competent in his profession (we worked for the same company, & he was respected), he had a positive attitude, & he was pretty “handy” to boot.

But he wasn’t a building contractor. And building an addition on your house is a big deal. He wanted it done right, & he was determined to do it himself. But I think, in retrospect, that he got in over his head. The project dominated his entire life for years on end, & in the end, proved to be based on a faulty assumption – that the original house was sound. That fault probably would have been discovered by a professional through an inspection performed prior to him (or her) beginning the project.

King Solomon observed that “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). We all need other people to protect us from getting blindsided. In short, I can’t “do it all myself”! I need people who know more than me to advise me, or even (gulp) do things for me.

I’ve made a study of my strengths. (And yes, my “non-strengths”.) It’s good to be confident about what I’m good at, whether God gave me the capacity at birth or at re-birth. I confess, with the Apostle Paul, that “By the grace of God I am what I am, & His grace to me was not without effect“! (1st Corinthians 15:10)

But I need comrades. And friends. And a wise wife. And a professional building contractor. To protect me from the rot in the walls that I can’t see, but they can.

I’m enjoying reading (& re-reading) Proverbs these days. And it’s really clear that a key piece of living wisely… is being teachable. Receptive to instruction. Attentive to correction. May I, & may you, confidently (& with great pleasure!) do what God’s made us good at. But may we also listen to others’ warnings – especially the warnings of those who are godly; they just may be able to point out some rot, & save me some long, drawn-out construction.