If you invest wisely in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life. – Frank Lloyd Wright

Big news today on the renovation! I understand that everything is a win when it comes to making progress, but Monday’s kitchen countertop installation provides such a huge visual I have to share.

I know, if you’re a plumber or an electrician you’re probably thinking, “Here we go again with the big showy visual splash. I guess nobody appreciates what goes on behind the walls.”

No, don’t be like that! We get it, we really do. Rebekah and I deeply appreciate all the good work with wires and pipes and stuff. We understand that it is the behind the scenes folk who really make things happen. But there’s no getting around the fact that these countertops make a huge impact!

Today’s post illustrates an important point about what it takes for something to work. It takes everyone, everything, every aspect, every detail. Believe me, I have benefited from being the “front” person when something looks like a big success – but nothing happens absent an army of detail folk working tirelessly behind the scenes.

“Flashy” is not the whole story!

Because “flashy” is nowhere near the whole story. What we are moving into is an actual house, not a poster or a neon sign.

I believe this is a solid point to reflect on; because what really happens – in this country, in our state, in our community, in our church – is a function of the tens, scores, hundreds, thousands and millions of real and mostly humble people who do the day by day practical work of making it all hum.

• It’s not me, it’s the guys in the men’s group.
• It’s not Rebekah, it’s the elders and the members of our church.
• It’s not the mayor, it’s the folk who work at city hall and pick up the garbage and keep the lights on.
• It’s not the king, it’s the staff who make his cup of tea.
• It’s not just the flashy splashy countertop, it’s the plumbing and the wires and the carpentry and the work of the other good folk who make it all happen.

We can’t give all the glory – or give away all the responsibility – to the person who stands at the front and makes all the noise.

So kudos to the people who made and installed the countertop – it really does make a big splash. But it’s the plumbers and the electricians and the carpenters and the laborers who – at the end of the day – are going to bring this project home.

“A building is only as strong as the hands that build it”