Goodbye, wallpaper, goodbye...

There are some things I should have never done. One of those things is put up wallpaper.
My advice? Don't do it. Never. Not Ever. Unless you want it there when you die. If it's already there, just leave it for your kids. Seriously.

I have never been so tempted to paint over something in all my life. But, instead, I am stripping it. And calling myself names, for ever thinking it was a pretty piece of paper. It's been up 14 yrs. It's time to go.

I enlisted the help of my 13 year old kid. He is always needing money, therefore, I am always thinking up jobs for him to do. We have sprayed, scraped, wiped, washed, painted. The wallpaper is finally gone.

While we were sweating and glaring at the wall (and each other), I thought of the verse in the Bible from Jeremiah 23:24.
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.

You see, after we scraped off the wallpaper, I could see the drywall imperfections, paint runs, and the bumps from daily living. It had just been covered up by gaudy printed wallpaper.

How easy is it for us to just cover over the blemishes of life. The scars and imperfections can be seen only in private, in our minds and hearts. I don't want to expose my disfigurements to the world. So I put on a layer of glue, pick out a pretty piece of paper and cover it up, smooth it out and cover up the flaws.

However, the paper becomes faded, the glue dries and turns loose, and we are faced yet again with the misshapen parts of our lives. So we are forced to scrape and clean, and prepare to hide yet again.

Wonder what would happen if we all fixed what we could. Fill in some holes and dents, sand the rough spots and roll on a fresh coat of paint. Then embrace what we cannot change. Strengthen the weaknesses in each other. Build up the low self-esteems. Love with all our hearts.

There is no way we can cover all our scars, all our impairments and shortcomings. But we can learn to love ourselves the way God created us and the way he has molded us through our journey. Lose the concealing wallpaper. There is no such thing as a perfect woman...but we can be real. And true. And that makes us a greater, stronger and more confident woman in Christ and in life.

Tea is for sisters...

For he satisfieth the longing soul, 
and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalm 107:9

My sister and a wonderful friend hosted a beautiful, scrumptious afternoon tea for all the ladies in our church. Tea is defined as a light meal with finger sandwiches and such foods, and the purpose is to tide us over until lunch or dinner.

When I was thinking about the meaning of the “proper English tea” I began to think of everyone who makes up our sisterhood.

I have a natural sister. I do things for her just because of who she is and just because she asks. She invites me to go shopping with her just so we will have time to talk. She can get me to make her a chocolate pie and watch her kids.

I will give her a gallon of milk because I know she is too tired to run to the dollar store, give her eggs because her 5 year old dropped and broke the whole dozen, sew on buttons or purposely cook extra at dinner so we can eat lunch together the next day. She takes me out to eat Asian Cuisine, because she knows it's my favorite food. She also makes those awkward phone calls/conducts conversations for me, because she knows that any type of confrontation makes me nervous.

My sister knows more about me than probably any other woman on the earth, and vice versa. She can tell when I'm excited, tired, overwhelmed, and the reason I'm feeling grumpy or in control. I know when she has a new project in mind, if she's stressed, got it all together, or when she is ready to ship her dog to the pound because it ate her greenhouse plants and daughter's new dress. I also know when she's exhausted and ready to send all her kids to bed without bedtime stories. I am the aunt who rescues them with stories, songs and tucks them in. Her children are my second set of kiddos.

We don't always get along. Shocker, I know; but we are very, very different. She is one flavor of tea and I am sure another. Most of the time we balance each other, but sometimes we are like sandpaper scuffing nerves. We have really different lives. There are days we talk several hours, and there are times we go a couple days and almost lose track of what's happening. Yes, life can change that quick. But she's my sister. It's an unexplained bond. We didn't have to create the love, it's between us because we are sisters.

Just like many of us have natural sisters, we have sisters in the Lord. We do things for each other just because. We uplift each other in prayer. We watch each other's children grow. We sense when one is fighting a battle, and when we find out someone is in pain, we all feel it.

We come from very diverse backgrounds. We all struggle with different problems. Our hearts have been broken by situations beyond our control. Our marriages are in different stages. Our children are different ages; some have one and some have more. There are ones of us who are laid back and easy going, while others are more intense and like a place for everything and everything in it's place.

We all have something different to offer.
Some of us are the sandwiches/savories, making sure the needs are met and no one goes hungry.
Some of us are the sweets. We love to do extras just because we know it makes others feel special.
Some of us are the plates, saucers and utensils. We love to serve and the satisfaction of seeing others be able to use what we offer is our blessing.
Some of us are tablecloths. We pray the covering of God for our sisters and their families.
Some of us are napkins. We are gifted in being able to smooth messes and help restore to like new.

Some of us are teapots. We can withstand a lot of heat and pour out more than we need to take in.

But we all are teacups. We desire, and even crave, the filling up of friendship, acceptance and love. We all have vastly different experiences and knowledge to bring to the the table. And we cannot know the sweetness of sisterly fellowship without coming together, sharing ourselves, sharing our struggles, weaknesses and strengths.

It is my desire to not only stay full, but have extra. I pray I will have enough to share with a sister who needs to have a tea...the nourishment to tide her over until the next meal is prepared.

Thou shalt preserve me...

Thou are my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7 KJV

Our pastor has a saying:
Get all you can.
Can all you get.
Sit on the lid.

In other words, get all you can of God's love, mercy, forgiveness, joy, patience...all those good things.

Then when you get your hands on it, keep it.
Hide it deep in your heart.
Practice it daily.
Pray for it hourly.
Make it your way of life.

Holy living doesn't come by accident.
The virtues of patience and contentment do not come without practice.
Forgiveness and mercy do not come without pain and maturity.
Sometimes these attributes only come from life's pain and yes, even misery.

Many times we have to experience hurts, heartache, disappointment, shock and grief to realize that God is big enough to provide for us in our time of need.

If I hadn't prayed daily, hourly, for patience when my son was small, I wouldn't have enough to even begin to tackle these teen age years. I still stop in my tracks many times during the day to ask, pray, beg for patience.

I knew I had asked (out loud) maybe too much, when my then-three-year-old son was juggling an armload of little plastic trucks. He looked at the trucks laying around his tiny white socked feet, the tilted his blue eyes toward the ceiling. "LORRRRD, GIVE ME PATIENCE!!!" He used that same tone I used...desperation mixed with some frustration and panic.

However, I learned that every time I was given the gift of another day of love and tolerance, I added it to my can and put on the lid, preserving it for the next part of my life. I didn't want to lose that hard earned tolerance.

In my can, I have placed patience into the mixture of forgiveness for past hurts.
I combine the forgiveness with contentment of trading my career to be a mom.
I mix contentment with the choice of love for when every family member feels grumpy.
The contents of my can are the balm of daily living. Full of my daily prayers for forgiveness. Full of my praises of thankfulness. Full of salvation's joy. Full of tears of comforted pain. Full of answered questions.

It is such a wonderful blessing to be able to share the contents of my can with my family and my friends.
And I have found that when I open my heart to share, I am able to receive the sweet goodness that has been preserved by my friends. Together we find the miracles of joy, wonder and praise.