Anybody want to see a 16' mural?

 Monday was my fun adventure for the week. Jonathan and I took my little brother Isaac up to Maryville with us for the day, so he could help us install a mural. We had been waiting to install this huge painting on canvas for a long time now. You may wonder why it would take three strong men to install it... Well, it is 10' high by 16' wide, on a solid wooden frame! This painting is a beautiful interpretation of the "Tree of Life", people drove up to look at it as we were installing in, and knew immediately what it was supposed to be.

Before

Jonathan and Isaac working hard

I participated in the event!

Finished!

I can't imagine it being hard to see the look of pride in all of our faces in this last photo. By the end of the day, we had installed a timeless piece of art. We had participated in the erection of something special and unique! And by the end of the day, I watched my "little" [little as in age, though little he is definitely not!] brothers attitude about my husbands profession completely transform! The tall, athletic, sports enthusiast was taking pride in the mural which all who head up to the Smokey Mountains is bound to discover. I watched as Isaac was enlightened with the reality of hard work. Hard work isn't just the amount of weight you benched the morning before, or the hours invested in work outs. Hard work isn't contingent only on the sweat that you produce in the process. Hard work is what you invest absolutely ALL your resources into, faithfully, until it is completed with perfection. And hard work is investing your passions for years into a single vision, until it is completed. Isaac worked hard that day, he lifted a heavy weight, he perspired, work up an appetite, yet came away with much more respect, and realization of the importance of the diligent, sold-out, creative investment Jonathan has made into his career. 

Perspectives, and priorities must change in the minds of others in order to see respect given to those who truly earn it. Jonathan isn't a body builder, but Isaac saw the real fruit of Jonathan's labor, and saw that is was worth MUCH respect.
Enjoy!