My vision with some help

With all the difficult tasks my aging parents might need my relatively young arms to tackle, their request for this visit was to beautify the yellow blobs of hardened foam oozing from the woodpecker holes in the tree. My dad, in his ongoing attempt to keep wildlife and decay from snatching civilization, had filled in the large holes created by the hungry woodpeckers. He had used a bright yellow foam which not only clashed with the stately grey of the bark but also expanded to a pendulous unsightly blob. On two trees were two large bright blobs, each with another smaller blob above or below. My assignment was to paint the blobs to make them into an artistic creation, something to placate the neighbors and prevent little children from passing by and snickering.
I know my Dad, so with great foresight asked,"What is your vision for the blobs? "
"I don't want to influence you," he assured me, "Make it what you see fit."

So I set out with a ladder, my oil paints, and a variety of brushes. Dad had advised that the first tree blobs looked a little like a small four legged creature. I just didn't see that
I saw a bird holding a broken egg. I painted the bird clutching the oozing egg to her breast. This blob was my expression of all the cruel realities of nature, and angst of motherhood. Dad came out and watched for a while, telling me perhaps the feet clutching the so called egg needed better definition. And while I was at it, perhaps the egg didn't really look like an egg since eggs are not so round. But then he left and I suspect was wondering if he should have just had me vacuum the living room instead.

I finished the bird and moved on to the second set of blobs. At first I had seen a toucan in these blobs but as I examined them more closely, a horse appeared in my head.

Dad wandered out again. The large pickle shaped blob had been painted like a horse snout
Above it but not connected to it was a small round blob. I had painted two eyes on that and then painted two ears right on the bark itself as I had no more blobs to work with.
"What happened to the toucan? " asked Dad.
"I don't know. When I started I saw a horse instead."
"But the eyes aren't connected to the nose! "
"Well use your imagination. "
"You need something between them connecting them."
"Dad, I had rather limited material to work with here! "
"Fine, its lovely! " but his face was troubled.
As we were watching television later, he exclaimed out of the blue, "How about a nose piece like horse bridles have? "
"But those aren't right under the eyes, " I said.
"We could buy more foam, " he said, " Fill in the gap."
"I could make a duck tape bridle, " suggested Asherel, "You need to fill in the gap. "
So Asherel made the bridle and I nailed it in place. She had made the nose piece by rolling several thicknesses of duct tape.

But then the painted bark to suggest ears no longer looked right. I made duck tape ears and tacked them on.

Dad wandered out again.
"Do you think the nosepiece is too wide for the face? " he asked, as I was putting away the ladder. I controlled the few spurts of steam wafting from my ears.
"Dad that is about 2 inches thick duck tape. I would need a saw to cut it down! "
"Oh... well then it is fine. It's lovely! " but as he walked away his face looked troubled.

So I put the ladder back under the tree and got some large pruning shears. I pulled out the nails and spent ten minutes sweating and grunting as I slowly mangled a cut through the thick wads of duck tape. Then I tacked it back up.

As I was folding the ladder, Asherel wandered out.
"That's not what horse ears look like, " she said.
I unfolded the ladder and sat down. "I'll wait here."
She returned a few minutes later with two perfect duck tape ears. I tacked them up.

As we all gathered to head off to lunch, all four of us gazed at the horse.
"It looks like a donkey, " said Mom.
"Fine, its a donkey! " I cried.
Fortunately they all agreed it was a lovely donkey and no one had any more input into "my" vision.

1 Corinthians 3:6-14 NIV

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

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