Loveseat not Self

  Guess what? 

  I finished redoing  the love seat/settee. 

  Yeh.

  Sure I was excited and then something happened. Myself got in the way and all the excitement and pride of it deflated like a balloon with a not-too-slow but not-fast leak. The anti-climatic type leak where the balloon just shrivels but then looks like an old dried up pear. 

 Earthly things have a tendency to do that - momentarily satisfying and then you are left feeling empty. Maybe it is just me. I am quirky...or is it glitchy???
Either way, I know I am getting too distracted by what I am doing when I let it sink me into a funk. Something may seem to be going really well and then when I am done, I second guess my work and get embarrassed about it. Then I want to hide it. 

 Ahhh pride, it's a nasty little biting booger but it is such a good gauge of what you are holding too tightly. When you start putting what you do or your value in what something looks like, then you are guaranteed to suffer a fall. 

  God is good to bring us out of the muck and mire if we have not dulled our senses to Truth. The problem is we tend to take the fall and then with our ego bruised, we limp along huffing and grumbling or we play the martyr and wallow in the suffering. Been there, done that, got the muck and mire stains. 

 Soooo...what am I going to do to grow from this? Well, my tried and true remedy is to talk to Truth to myself. When I am really wearing myself down, I list off what I know to be True starting from the beginning of time. 

 "God always existed. God created all things. God made us in His image. God gave us everything we need including commandments to live by...."

 I just go on and on until I cannot remember what silly minutia I was dwelling on. It is hard to be self-focused when you redirect your thoughts to God and He is so gracious to move us from the traps we get ourselves into each day...or each hour. 

  So, here's the pic and I am not thinking twice about it. 

BEFORE 

AFTER - Patsy Recline the Settee

 "...and God gave His Son to save a wretch like me. Amen"

Satisfying Comfort

  The junktique business can be overwhelming. Pieces are piling up in the garage, in the entry, in the study, in the dining room...

  Yikes, could I be a classified as a hoarder now????

 Just to be sure I stay focused, I put in a request for some Godly ladies to pray that  I use my time wisely and to honor God. So far, I am encouraged. Several pieces are in the process of getting done. My favorite, by far, is a settee that I knew as soon as I saw it what I wanted to do. Design at first!

 It has great appeal and just needed just a bit of TLC - a minor repair, dirty and faded green upholstery, dings and scratches. I am not done with it yet but during one work session with the settee, my brain immediately thought of pillows. I love pillows! So comforting, so fashionable. It was the perfect time to try out the embroidery settings on my sewing machine. I know...I have Craft ADD.

 I must confess, too, that I have had this sewing machine for over a year and have not touched the embroidery settings or parts at all. Everything was still packaged. After some frustrating fumbling with the hoop and layout settings, it was running like a dream and in no time, I whipped up two adorable pillows. 

  If you look close there is a bit of the settee's new upholstery and paint peeking through but I won't reveal it until I am completely finished. 

  This is dirty and tiring work. Digging through dusty piles and stacks, loading and unloading pieces, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning again, and dismantling pieces is enough to wear out anyone, much less an old, tired woman who is lacking sleep but it is fun. And, working on all these pieces has been a constant reminder of  2 Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 

  Chalk paint can hide a multitude of imperfections but only Jesus can completely remove ours. With junk, I am just redoing what already exists but He doesn't just spiff up what we already have, Jesus makes us brand new. The old is totally wiped away and it is utterly satisfying and comforting.