When we moved into our home a little more than a year ago, it didn’t have a driveway, just a little bit of gravel and a lot of dirt. Every time it rained, we were tracking in a lot of mud. It was also graded poorly, so our garage would flood with water running toward the drain. Over the fall and winter, my husband decided what he wanted the driveway to look like, and while he changed it here and there during the process, in the end, he had his perfect driveway. It was his baby. Someone told him that while concrete guys will tell you that you can drive on it in a week, it takes 28 days to really cure. In order to protect his baby, he decided that we were going to keep parking on the street those full 28 days, and even then, we had to seal it before we were going to park on it. At one point, since we have older cars, he was debating on whether we were going to ever park on it. Needless to say, we have given him an endlessly hard time about how obsessy he has been over his perfect driveway.
Four weeks were almost through, and parking on the street and walking several loads of groceries into the house was getting pretty old. I threatened him. He needed to get the sealant immediately if he wanted it sealed, or I was going to start parking on it unsealed. With just a day to spare, I knew he would be bringing home the sealant. To prepare the driveway, I started washing and scrubbing the dirt from the pavement. I was disheartened because many of the spots were not coming off. Most did eventually come off with a power washer, but there are still quite a few spots that remain. I dreaded telling my husband that his driveway was going to be sealed in its unpristine state. (I need to give him credit here, because he didn’t panic like I thought he would, haha.)
It’s a DRIVEWAY! It’s purpose is to be driven on and it’s meant to be walked on, played on. It’s OUTSIDE! It’s going to get dirty, and muddy, and stained. At no time was it ever intended to be perfect, or to remain new and unspotted.
I kept thinking about how this relates to us and our time here on earth. President Monson once quoted a French philosopher when he said, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Part of that human experience will be getting dirty; those tiny leaves will leave their imprints on us. We are not meant to go through mortality unscathed, and Heavenly Father, in his infinite wisdom, planned for that and provided a Savior for us. Our purpose here on earth was to gain a body and experience mortality. We can support others through their mortal journey as we serve others and raise families, just as our new driveway supports the weight of the many vehicles that now park on her.
Family Life Education 