I was sitting in my usual morning chair, with my glorious cup of coffee, staring out the window, and trying to wake up enough to comprehend the words in the book I was “trying” to read. My heart was heavy. The world around me felt bleak and there had been a heaviness in the air, that I knew so many were feeling. The unknown of Covid still lingered around us and Russia had just invaded Ukraine. It all felt like a mess. I felt helpless. “Lord, what is my response to all this?” I didn’t expect an answer, it was a question I uttered out in shear desperation, but I felt His reply. I knew it in my heart what He answered back, “Make it Beautiful.” My space, my place where God had strategically placed me, I was supposed to make beautiful, and display God’s beauty. I had received my marching orders and felt a peace as I savored those last few drops of coffee. Not sure what it all meant, I knew in the midst of chaos and confusion, God was calling me to peace and calm in His presence and asking me to share His goodness and beauty with my little piece of the world.
For the most part my world is my home, where I homeschool my insanely awesome children, and I do way more dishes than one women should have to in one day. My feet occupy the most time between my stove and sink. Most of my ministry is done in the mundane of prepping supper and the conversations held as I handwash the dishes again. I wish so badly my conscious would let me put those wooden spatulas in the dishwasher! My children (and hubby of coarse!) are my main focus and I will never regret a single moment of this time. The way I choose to run my home and greet my family n the morning is my ministry. I want to make our space beautiful. I want their memories to be of peace and calm when they were in my presence, and of coarse of my hilarious sense of humor. I don’t want to just tell them about Jesus, I want to show them Jesus as best as my broken human self can. I want to be the first to apologize, which is often, when I fall short. Momma’s we set the tone in our homes. We have the opportunity to make it beautiful, no matter the square footage, the floor design, or all the other imperfections you see. Beauty is a feeling, a sense of peace that makes a space beautiful and a place of rest for those hearts that need nurturing. My home is the first place I want to make beautiful.
Next, is just wherever my two feet find me. No need to wait for “The Call” on your life. I promise I sat around a long time thinking that there was one big mission that I was supposed to go on, and I was very concerned that I might miss it. Spoiler Alert: There is no one “call”, but a life time of little assignments, and God is bigger than our lefts turns when we should have taken a right. He is the master at course correction. However, I desperately desire to stay as close to Him as possible, so I can hear His voice and avoid any detours, but none the less, we are human and He is highly aware of that. The biggest assignment is to wake up each day with glorious wonder and anticipation about the opportunities God will bring about that day, and to determine to work hard and faithfully at whatever our hands find to do. When we realize it is actually not about us, we can breathe a little easier and trust the Lord will lead and guide us as we are faithful in the everyday, seemingly mundane moments, that when done in love and joy, change the world.
I get so overwhelmed and excited at the thought of “what if every single person, who claims they have a relationship with Jesus, lived out each day on purpose, for Jesus. What if they had a hunger to show His love and beauty to THEIR world? “What if we quit fighting stupid, little problems, and we each found a big juicy one to solve in our home and our community. (roughly paraphrased from my favorite book, “Beginner’s Pluck”) Mind blowing things would happen, and honestly, I think most would walk away much happier human beings. It is one of the many backward ways of God, creating us to be happiest when we are not in fact searching for our own happiness.
So where to begin? I hate that feeling I feel when I have been inspired or motivated to move toward something, but have no gosh darn clue where to start or what it looks like to even begin. I get all hot and agitated and eventually throws my hands up. So here are my ending thoughts and the only way I know to make my life beautiful show God’s beauty to others. Set aside time with Jesus everyday, that is where you start. Ask a lot of questions and write your heart out before the Lord. Study a book of the bible and bite off only what you can chew that day. Sit silent in His presence and take in His goodness before the day begins. Just be with the One who knows you better than you know yourself and dig into His word. His word is medicine for our soul, and it shows us truth in a world full of lies. As we grow closer to Him, so much more becomes clearer. That is where we begin.
So here’s to this journey of “Making it Beautiful.” This space is my place to process and store up life’s journey in words. In hopes of catching a few stragglers along the way, who want to join in and follow along, I will leave it here, open to the vast world wide web. Let’s make it beautiful.
