this summers uber project

This summer's uber project is that pesky retaining wall over our pool. Last year we managed the tearing down part, which left the lovely mud piles and random bricks throughout our yard. Now we pick up there and start to hopefully make progress. And what better motivation to get things going than to have tons of stone delivered.

Now it has to go somewhere.

Now you might think that this is an exercise in perpetual frustration. But really it is a choice. We like a challenge, and it has the potential of being a good workout. And some people pay big money for that.

So Bryan and I spent a good part of the weekend digging, tamping, digging, measuring, and digging some more.

I think projects like this are good for the soul. Looking at the big picture is too overwhelming so you kind of have to take it one chunk at a time. As much as I love closure, this kind of thing is a good exercise in patience, concentration, problem solving, and the value of the incremental.

I think for the most part, soulwork is incremental.

Ok yea, sometimes you get the giant life changing events that are like spiritual earthmovers that make big changes in your spirit. I think of these as defining events. Things that fall into this category are usually painful, or at the very least so challenging that they bend you just to the breaking point. But the incremental stuff is, at least to me, the way most big things get done, spiritually speaking, or in the practical.

Moving dirt definitely falls into the latter.

But with each shovel full I am reminded that the work of the soul happens in the day to day workings and often the mundane. God teaches us so many things in these less than glamourous moments. It is in this that the practical informs the spiritual. So this weekend as we poked away at this huge project I was reminded not only to pay attention to the value of the incremental but to welcome it and sit well with it.

And just like with big backyard projects, the spirit grows one shovel full at a time.

Here i am with the tamper. Notice the big pallets of stone above my head. The cinderblock portion of the previous wall still has to be taken down.

Bryan creating a border for the crusher run.

a little progress to celebrate.