Rough Around the Edges

Spring is here! It’s definitely knocking on the door anyway. I even had my windows wide open last week!

What are you most looking forward to with Spring?

Is it seeing the color green again? Baseball season starting? Driving without a parka on? (this only makes sense if you live in the Midwest)

For me, it’s garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. Oh my.

I have a love for redesigning vintage furniture. I started this hobby 2 years ago, and it’s thoroughly exhilarating. There’s the thrill of the hunt for unseen treasure, imagining something differently, and the tremendous satisfaction of a before and after makeover.

I’ve missed it. You see, my hobby has to take a backseat in the winter – for two reasons.

1. I need to park in the garage. The garage tends to become my storage area of unfinished pieces waiting for love. Parking outside in the winter would require me to think far enough in advance on busy mornings to defrost the windows in order to see out of them. So to get to school and work on time, it’s best if I avoid this extra step.
2. I need outdoor space. I sand down all of my pieces. I love to expose the original material and see what I’m working with. Sanding is the first thing I do, and it’s absolutely an outside task. I don’t need any more reasons to clean the inside of the house.

Now with the warmer temps, I’ve been able to get my fix of the smell of sawdust. I’m excited to see the positive features of the pieces I chose, despite the flaws. I see the potential where others might see an old, outdated, dumpster item. Like my hubby, for instance. He’s happy for Spring, too. It may mean the mini-workshop in our living room can move. Or maybe not. 🙂

Take the little sewing table I picked up this weekend for example. Even though its original design now has a flaw – a missing sewing machine – I could see another use for it. As a sweet little accent table. The spindly carved legs and small pop-out drawer compartment are features I can highlight. It’s about bringing out its beauty in a new way, but that beauty was still part of its original design. The outdated wood stain and dust were just covering it up.

Isn’t it the same with us?

We feel a little rough around the edges some days. My rough days are when frustration gets the best of me and my voice builds along with my temper.

Do you ever find yourself asking God what he’s trying to teach you on those days?

I had a particularly troubling episode with my son, where I kept saying the wrong thing. I ended up having this little conversation in my head, trying to figure out if things are really supposed to go this way, and what helpful lesson I should be getting from the situation.

God, is it because I’m doing a bad job? Of course not.

Is it because I haven’t listened to those parenting videos yet? Nope.

Is it because I need to listen to you more? Well, yes. But that’s not it either.

Then why am I going through this, and more importantly, why is my child having this struggle?

It’s simple. It’s because you’re you. And he’s who he is.

I don’t understand. How can I help him? What should I be learning from this? Just be you. And remember he’s him.

That’s when it hit me.

God hand designed me to be his Mom, and hand selected him to be my child.

He doesn’t make mistakes.

     “For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that
we should walk in them.” 
                                       Ephesians 2:10

All this time, I’ve felt like I needed a total makeover. Some way to hit a Delete button, where my tired old habits simply disappear.

While working on my furniture pieces, I’m seeing this in a new light.

I need to stop waiting for a total makeover, and simply refresh my original design, highlight my positives, and discover what’s already there.

Just like I might sand down some rough edges to smooth a table corner, I can rid myself of dangerous faults like always being in control and striving for perfection.

For the same reason I highlight detailed curves and impressions in the wood, I should highlight my own unique features that make me who I am like my creativity and can-do attitude.

And like I swap out an outdated orange and brown 70’s flower fabric on a vintage chair, I can replace an outdated way of thinking – that being louder will help my voice be heard over the kids’ commotion – with a quiet voice of love toward their beautiful faces.

Our Father didn’t provide our precious children with a flawed parent. It’s just that our flaws (sins) cover the original masterpiece he created. We simply need to sand ourselves down a bit and rediscover our beauty.

So when I feel lousy about the poor job I did at disciplining, and wonder why, I remember that it’s not God who makes mistakes. We do.

And he knows that. So it’s probably figured into the equation somehow, don’t you think?

Here’s to rediscovering our beauty – one day at a time.