Things November: Nov. 5, 2010

I find it interesting all the things that have happened in Novembers past that I've taken for granted because they've always just "been there". I've never bothered to inquire of their origin.  Not that they are earth-shattering, but they are interesting all the same.

 For instance, in 1492 Christopher Columbus learned of maize (corn) from the Indians of Cuba. 

And in 1935, the ever classic board game Monopoly was introduced by Parker Brothers.

Are you ready for some football?

Yes folks, that’s right…on this day in 1959, the National Football League was formed with the following 8 teams: Houston Oilers, New York Titans, Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders, and Denver Broncos!

Famous birthdays for Nov. 5th:  Roy Rogers, Vivien Leigh and Art Garfunkel

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For some reason – today in particular – I am so very grateful that I am no longer the person I used to be. I am not claiming perfection, and my life is still messy…

A Beautiful Mess

This past summer, my off-to-college daughter decided she wanted to redecorate her bedroom here at home. I gave her my blessing, and off she went to purchase supplies and paint at the local do-it-yourself big box store. She was so excited to have all she needed to get started including a couple cans of beautiful, bright pink paint (think fuschia).

As she painted, it didn't go as well as we had hoped. The dark paint was splotchy and streaky, and wasn’t covering the stenciled border I had painted when the house was brand new. We tried to cover the stencil with a medium gray primer that the genius gentleman at the local do-it-yourself big box store told us we needed. Let’s just say at this point, the room is a disaster and we are both disappointed and frustrated.

So, off to the store I went again, this time in pursuit of plain white primer. Just beautiful, pristine white to cover up the awful mess we had made.

Lo and behold, as I put on layers of white primer, the mess is beginning to disappear.

Tonight as I was painting, I reflected on how parts of my past are ugly and splotchy and streaky. How there are layers of colors-on-top-of-colors that I tried to use to cover up the mess - or maybe make the mess look better on the outside - yet the harder I tried, it just became messier.

Then one day, the vessel that held all that ugliness fell to the ground and everything in it spilled out. There was nothing left in there…it was empty…

Nothing left in me…I was empty...

And that was the perfect place for transformation to begin. That was when God sat the vessel back upright and filled it with Himself…

when He gave me the gift of His Son Jesus as my Savior…

when He began to slowly, gently “prime” that ugly surface

with His loving Word.

Every day He lovingly brushes on another beautiful, fresh layer of Himself over my mess…over me. But rather than just covering over the mess, God is making me new. Bit by bit, the canvas that is me becomes less me and more Him.

Pure

       Clean

                Bright

                          White

                                    Lovely…