Decor and transformation .. or The eye of the master

My mother was an interior designer. And an excellent one at that. She had the ability to create breathtakingly beautiful rooms, worthy of a place in Southern Victorian Magazine, or Southern Home Living. She decorated several homes in the Parade of Homes, a collection of houses around the area that showcased local builders and decorators. She did several displays at the Home Show, she did Christmas displays at Providence Baptist church for many years, and was often hired to help decorate clients homes for the holidays. 

She loved working with clients as they were in the process of building a brand new home. Helping them choose everything from carpet and paint, to light fixtures and faucets and everything in between.  But I do believe, her favorite thing was when she would work with homeowners who wanted a new look in the home they already lived in. Sometimes they would want new things, but often they were on a budget and would tell her they could not afford all new furniture, or accessories etc. She would assure them that they did not need all new things, but a fresh eyes on the area. She would start with pieces that were particularity important or meaningful to them, and then begin to go through the house. Looking in corners, on shelves and in attics or basements. Finding out what pieces were already there and seeing if they could be used in a new or different way or moved to different rooms. Once she knew what she had to work with, she would figure out what needed to be added, or repainted or recovered. 

Often, she would draw the room and the furniture pieces to miniature scale so she would manipulate them on paper before she had to move them for real. This was before computers that could do this for you, so she would painstakingly measure and cut out the pieces herself. Then, with the eye of a master artist she would begin to re-arrange. Her attention to the smallest detail set her above the rest in her field. And, she was totally self taught.

Her clients were often shocked at how she could see their items in a brand new way. A living room chair placed in the bedroom, a bedside table used as an accent table in the den, forgotten treasures rediscovered and arranged in places of honor.  Her love for what she did and her desire to make every client feel special and their belongings treasured showed through every room. If HGTV or YouTube had been a thing, she could have easily had one of those decorating shows.

As I think through this legacy of beauty my mom created, it reminds me of how God and his Spirit sometimes work in our lives. God approaches each of us individually, and evaluates the work to be done with the Masters Eye. He knows exactly what needs to go away and be replaced, and exactly what needs to be brought out of the shadows and put on display. The Spirit finds the broken things and knows exactly if it needs to be junked, redesigned our just polished up a little. He searches through the hallways, and closets and attic spaces of our lives pulling out long forgotten dreams. He takes cheap imitations of beauty and replaces them with items of lasting value, like love, patience, kindness, and self control. He can take our dusty, tired, and outdated insides and make them fresh and new. 

When my mom worked with a client they had to give her access to their home. They had to allow her to go into each room, and attic and closet. The gave her permission to re-arrange the rooms in their home to create a more beautiful and often more workable living space. And I think it very similar with God, and His Spirit. For the Spirit to do His best work, we must invite him in, allowing him to go through each corner of our lives and help us see what needs to stay and needs to go. And to get the most out of his work, we must be willing participants as he moves things about, throws things out and re-arranges our lives. So that we begin to see our souls become a beautiful expression of Him and His love for us, in every detail of our lives.