One of the things my father stressed upon me as a child and young man was, “Take the time to do it right.”  Sometimes he said, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”  Pretty much the same thing.  This was one of his many lessons on integrity.

As some of you know, we’ve been dealing with the frustration of renovating our windows, walls and brick work.  Why?  Because several years ago, long before we owned the house, someone sloughed off his job and cut corners.  The windows were not put in right, the flashing was done poorly, and as a result the wood behind the brick and windows rotted.  So, in order to make things right, we’ve had to remove the bricks until we found dry wood, replace all the wet and rotted wood, replace the windows with broken nail strips, and then put the brick back. 

Needless to say, it is a long, arduous, and expensive process.  Sure, we could have done it the easy way and just replace the leaking windows.  But somewhere down the line, the next owners would have had to repeat the process.  We’re doing it the way it should have been done from the start…the right way…regardless of the cost.  Of course, if you’ve been reading any of my previous blogs, you realize this really isn’t just about construction work.  It’s about life.

You can go through life cutting corners and cheating your way from one task to the next.  But the truth of the matter is, it will always catch up with you.  Save yourself and others a great deal of frustration and energy and develop integrity.  Do it right simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Do it right because you always give your best and your reputation is on the line.  Do it right because you care about others.  Do it right as if you were doing it for God Himself.  After all, the Bible tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24). 

Mitchell