Spilled Paint

One day last week I was flitting around my kitchen, making cookies and putting together a fruit tray.  At the same time, my oldest was unloading the dishwasher.  I had a can of black oil-based paint sitting on my counter from a project I was working on earlier.  In the hustle and bustle of the kitchen activity, the paint can got knocked off the counter. All in one motion, the paint can splattered on the floor, the lid burst off and, for what seemed like minutes, the paint oozed out all over my tile. We quickly grabbed towels and paint thinner and began cleaning up as best we could. 

Did I mention this was OIL-based paint and not WATER-based paint?  After 30 minutes or so of damage control, most of the mess of was cleaned up and my blood pressure was back to normal.  My house, however, smelled like paint thinner for a few days and the porous grout was stained black with no hope of return. Oh, and the inside of the dishwasher looked like we went for the polka-dot pattern when we purchased it.  RRrrrrrrrr!  I tried hard to think of someone to blame or lecture a little, but it was clearly my fault.

The next day I sat and stared at my stained grout.  This grout is originally sand-colored and now a huge chunk of it looked plain muddy! Because of its light color, it was already hard to keep clean.  I regularly get down on my hands and knees and apply my baking-soda-and-vinegar concoction and scrub like crazy.  But now I've got paint-stained grout. Did I mention this paint was black?!  Great! 

For a few days I left it alone simply because I was stumped at what to do.  Paint thinner (mineral spirits) wouldn't touch it.  So I did the only thing I knew to do next...  I went to Lowe's.  After searching for quite a while, I realized (and the clerk confirmed) that there was nothing to remove the paint.  My only hope now was to re-grout.  double-RRrrrrr. 

Much to my surprise, in a few short minutes I found a little tube of grout "re-fresh."  It looks a little like an acrylic paint bottle and is applied by simply squeezing it out right onto the grout and rubbing it in with an old toothbrush.  In 15 minutes I had "regrouted" the whole main kitchen area.  After an hour you mist it with water.  Five minutes later you can wipe it clean.  Much to my surprise...my tile looked amazing!! 

Last week I was frustrated and pouty thinking about my messed up tile and grout and the huge mess that was made of my kitchen.  Every time I looked at it I sulked a little more.  A few days later, however,  I had a much BETTER kitchen floor.  Little did I know as I was mopping up the paint off the floor, that I would eventually stand back beaming over what would become of it. 

It made me think....  Had it not been for the paint spill, I wouldn't have freshly grouted tile.  Without the mess, I wouldn't have the amazing. Without the spill,  I wouldn't have gone searching for the solution.  Without the yuck, I wouldn't have the yay!

That's alot like life.  So many times we don't understand the mess that comes along in our lives  We concentrate on the yuck and the spill.  Sometimes we pout and sulk without searching for the solution.  Sometimes we question the plan instead of trusting the Planner to work it together for good.

God often uses the yuck and the spills of this world to lead us to Him.  Its only through His work in our lives that the beautiful comes out of the messy.  Without the pain, without the trial, and without the suffering, we don't get to experience the wonderful....and the better-than-before. That IS redemption.