So, when Jill and I were finish ing up our new house part of the fun of it all was gett ing to put things in the way you want and what you want. Mirrors in the bathrooms along with towel racks and shower curtains. We picked out shelf liner and did some touch up painting. Then we were designing the closets and figuring out where to put the hanging racks and how many we want, how many and what kind of shelves we want and other things like that. Jill found a closet organizer at Lowes and we really liked it.

We bought it and with some help, we loaded it on the truck (It only weighed 153 pounds, said so on the box!). Backed up to the front porch and scooted the box off the tailgate of the pickup, I got the two wheeler and moved it to the bedroom (closest to the master bedroom closet).

We cut the box open and…..well, let’s just say I did not feel like it was Christmas! Does the term, “Some assembly required” mean anything? I looked at all the contents and then started unpacking. There was part after part after part. Big, small, short and tall! There was also, some sealed packages of hardware (screws, dowels, washers, bolts… many sizes and shapes). All the pieces were very legibly marked with letters. Did I say letters, yes, plural. There were AA to ZZ. I got out the directions and actually read them, not that they made any sense.

I knew I was in trouble when assembling started with the pieces M, N, O that attached to S, T and U. Then I had to get the hardware from one of the two packages. It was totally crazy. And, it only took Jill and I three and a half hours of grief, mayhem, frustration and possibly a little anger to complete the closet organizer.

Then came the task of hanging it on the wall, but that is another story in itself and when finished we noticed it was the wrong color! (The color of organizer was different than the color printed on box.)

Some Assembly Required? That term took on a whole new meaning. Somewhere during the course of this endeavor, Jill did mention that it might have been easier to just build one ourselves. My response I believe was that is what we were doing.

It made me think about our lives. That is what it is with us and life. We open a box and find an overwhelming number of pieces… where will I go to school, what will I be in life, where will I live, who will I marry, will I have kids…how many. Sometimes the instructions do not seem to help and it seems like we begin putting things together in the middle.

But, the end result, the finished product is worth it. Life is tough and sometimes hard to understand. But, I found a couple of lessons from assembling the organizer that can apply to life. First, the directions may be hard to understand and have to be read and reread to understand. God’s word sometimes may not make sense at first and have to be read two, three or several times to understand, but it will make sense eventually.

Second, you may have to get help from others. I could not have succeeded without Jill’s help. Sometimes it is good to get someone else’s opinion, take or thought on something (instructions/ Bible verse(s)). Remember the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that two are better than one.

Finally, persevere to the end. Stay with the task and do not quit. The finished product was well worth it. Some things may seem to move as slow as molasses but there is a reward worth it in the end. Jill and I ended up with a beautiful closet organizer. It took a lot of work and anguish but it all paid off in the end.

Life is that way too. It is difficult, sometimes needing help, and takes a lot of work and perseverance. What we need to remember is that life sometimes has SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED! Stick with it, you will make it.

Reading the Directions.

Bro. Tim, 2 Tim. 3:16-17