Although the vast majority of our time in Brazil was full of awesome, memory-making adventures, not every moment was happy-go-lucky. The day after we got rained out of the construction site, for example, started out as a not-so-pleasant morning. We quickly realized that we were falling behind schedule, and to make matters worse, it started raining again. We desperately needed to begin painting the interior of the church that day, but the stucco was still damp – so much so, that chunks of mud periodically broke off as we rolled paint onto the walls.

To be honest, I would rather clean a toilet than paint a wall. It’s just not something I’ve ever been good at, and in the fast-paced stress of the moment, I had few instructions to go by: just grab a roller and a paint tray, pronto! We were tired, frustrated, cranky and feeling the pressure of staying on schedule. So, when someone came by and critiqued the way we were seemingly wasting paint (since the wet walls were sucking in the paint, rather than being coated by it), I took the criticism too personally.

I didn’t want to be the sissy girl who cried over something so minor, but I couldn’t keep the tears from welling up in my eyes. I pretended like I was wiping sweat from my face while I tried to take a deep breath and not let my emotions get the best of me. A few minutes later, the person who had made the critical comment came over and put his arm around my shoulder. (Apparently, my sweat-wiping trick wasn’t as inconspicuous as I had hoped.) He admitted to being stressed out and apologized for snapping at me.

Building that chapel was not only a ministry to the people of Guanabara, but it was also a gift of service to the Lord. As I reflected on the painting incident later, I thought about a passage in Matthew 5:23-34, where Jesus tells his followers that if they are bringing a gift to the temple but remember that they have a grudge with someone, then they need to reconcile that relationship first, and then come back and bring the gift to God.

We could have just trudged on and not made things right between us – and sure, the building would still have turned out the same – but we would have both missed out on experiencing God’s blessings because of hurt feelings. I think God honors our efforts when we take the initiative to reconcile with people. Life is too short to hold grudges.