I’ve been reading Galatians for the past couple of weeks. I know – it’s a short book. I keep reading it over and over again. I love the themes of freedom & authenticity. Those are such liberating virtues, but some of the most difficult to live out for some reason. Because of that we all seem to make up our own rules for what our lives should look like & play by them. Success is a lot easier to measure that way. I’m really trying to figure out the balance. It’s quite a process. This week I ran across something I wrote a couple of years ago and realized that I was struggling with this concept even then. Here it is:

I recently tackled a home improvement project. For all of our married life, John and I have furnished our bedroom with hand-me-down furniture. None of it really matches and all of it is rather old. I’ve often wanted to replace it with new, but bedroom furniture is really expensive. After a couple of trips to the homes of some friends, I was inspired to attempt refurbishing it on my own. I began with the dressers. As I started painting them I was surprised to see just how beat up they were. The years have definitely taken a toll on them. But as I painted them, they began to look fresh and new again. Their personality came to life. And then there was the headboard. Yuck. I wasn’t sure how it would end up and even after I got the first coat of paint on it, it was still ugly. Again, deciding I had nothing to lose, I decided to try distressing it. I got a sander and began scuffing it up around the edges and then on the front. I couldn’t believe what I saw as I backed away. Suddenly this old, non-interesting headboard had come to life. The edges were more defined, and the details were more obvious. The flaws had actually brought out the beauty in the piece.

It occurs to me that many times we approach our own lives much like I have approached my bedroom furnishings. So many times we accept what we are handed without looking beyond the surface. We go about our business for years on end not really satisfied with who we are, but unwilling to really do anything about it. Maybe we are afraid it will be too costly, or maybe we’re just not sure how to start. But what if instead of trying to replace ourselves with what we think we should look like, we decided to “refurbish” ourselves? What if we assessed what we have been given to work with and went from there. If we quit trying to cover the flaws and make ourselves match everyone else, would we instead reveal our true beauty? I think maybe we would. God knows that we are imperfect, but He is at work through each and every imperfection. If we let Him, He can make us beautiful – not by covering our flaws, but by exposing them for the world to see. I believe that this messed up world we live in is hungry to hear from God – not through a polished, matched set of manufactured people- but through authentic, messed up human beings who are themselves in the process of being redeemed by the grace of God. When we begin to let our flaws speak in a way that translates this grace to others, I think that will be a very beautiful thing.