The Finished Product

My son and I stared through the window in the oven door, waiting for the timer to go off. Finally, at the sound of the buzz, I opened the door and withdrew a piping hot, golden brown loaf of bread. Of course we didn't wait for it to cool, instead letting the butter melt all over as we sampled our creation.

"Mom, it's like we made bread," he said wide-eyed. "I didn't know people could do that."

I think he just assumed it falls from the sky in the red store wrapper and lands on the shelf, waiting for someone to buy it.

The following week, it was my husband's turn to stand wide-eyed in the kitchen, but it had nothing to do with my cooking. We are in the process of getting our kitchen remodeled; the contractor took out a wall, rebuilt part of it, patched up the holes left behind along with rewiring some electrical pathways, and is in the home stretch, watching drywall mud dry.  We are getting to the fun part now, adding a breakfast bar and choosing paint colors.

My husband looked around and said,"It's like he's building a room."

Again, because in our minds houses just fall out of the sky and land on their foundations.

In our society, we are used to seeing a finished product quickly, almost like instant gratification. We miss the process behind the product.

Young adults want the perks that come with maturity and financial stability, without going through the process, and wind up frustrated at best, and in a financial mess at worst.

We want our bodies to look a certain way, but are unwilling to commit to the process of working them out. Maybe that's just me...

I see a book cover with someone's name on it and wish it was mine, but right now I am not willing to commit the time to the project. I just want to skip to the finish line.

In the few projects I have done and completed, I can see the process as a gift. When I did get in shape once and complete a triathlon, the training I went through built strength, character, and endurance. I was definitely better for it.

I've taken cast-off furniture, stripped it down to bare wood, and done some different painting techniques. Each step taught me something different about the piece...what kind of wood it was, what else had been done to it in the past, and ultimately shaped the way I finished it myself.

I think we would do well not to not turn our noses up at the process that goes into a finished product. Do not become frustrated because you aren't there yet. Sometimes in life, the best part of reaching your destination is the journey it took to get you there.