I posted here about my newly refinished kitchen table. In addition to brightening up our kitchen, and sprucing up our table, I also learned a valuable lesson from this project...
First, let me back up a little bit and say that very frequently I tell people what I am not, or what I don't do. I frequently say that I don't sing because I'm tone deaf. I frequently throw around phrases like I'm not a decorator, or I'm not handy, or I'm not good with make-up, fashion, etc. Recently one of my friends pointed that out to me. She gingerly pointed out to me that I'm always saying what I'm not, or what I don't do.... that I'm frequently defining myself by my weaknesses and what I'm against, rather than my positives and what I'm for. (Nina, if you're reading this I may not have really heard you in the moment, or really grasped the wisdom in what you said, but your words are still whispering to my heart!).
So I have spent years telling people that I'm not handy. And not a decorator. And then I take on this project of re-finishing our table. It required the use of sanders, and paint, and wood stain, and all kinds of various tools and medium that are foreign to me. (Thank God for youtube!). But with my husbands encouragement I took on this project that seemed to be too big for me. And you know what? I did it. And I did a pretty good job with it. And I had fun. And now I realize that maybe I can be handy, and can be a decorator. Maybe I just haven't believed in and applied myself in the past. Maybe I've spent too many years believing the lies that I am not these things, rather than tapping into all of the gifts and passions that I have.
And now I wonder... what other lies am I believing that are crippling me from me all that I can be... all who God created me to be? What other hidden passions and talents have I not indulged and excelled in due to fear of failure?
Now I press on... to try new things... to be defined by positives, by what I am about and what I am for, rather than what I am not.
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