The Patchwork Porch

  • by Trish Berg
  • July 9, 2014
  • 424
                        
Struggling with loads of laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and find Joy in the Journey. After spending three weeks, we might actually finish re-furbishing our wrap around porch this week. It started as a simple plan, sand off the paint and stain the porch so it looks like new. Well, what I thought was a two day job has now become nearly a month long job. What I thought was one job has led to numerous jobs, like painting the trim, painting the posts, and cleaning the walls. What I thought would make the porch look perfect has ended up looking a little rough with various colors and textures of wood on the floor. It is certainly not perfect. And so it is with our patchwork porch. When the porch was built fourteen years ago, we decided to paint it red. But over the years, the paint has chipped and faded, and so we painted over the paint every few years, just to make it livable. We also had some rotting wood planks form time to time which we had replaced here and there with mismatched wood, all in an effort to save some money. The good news is that the wood is in pretty good shape, and once we chemically stripped and then sanded all of the red paint off, we found solid wood that was sturdy underneath. The bad news is that it looks like a patchwork quilt, and not like the smooth, uniform wood floors featured on HGTV. So today is staining day, and I am excite to see how it looks when it is done. I have actually grown to love our patchwork porch, and it reminds me of my patchwork life. You see, as a perfectionist, I would like everything in my life to be perfect. But the reality is that life is a lot like my patchwork porch than perfection. Every struggle I have faced creates a worn part in my heart, sanding the edges down. Every tear stains my soul a different shade of blue. Every blessing is like the sun shining, brightening my spirit. Every mistake I make is like a hole in my soul. All put together, my patchwork life has become beautiful, and I would not be the person I am today without all of the colors, textures, dents, holes and shades that have become a part of me. Life is never perfect, and we would not want it to be. We learn and grow through the pain and sorrow as much as the joy and laughter. We become stronger when we survive tragedy, and faithful when we see God bless us through the storms. It’s not easy. We should not expect it to be. It’s not perfect. We would not want it to be. Our lives may need some re-furbishing form time to time as we sand off the rough edges and strip down the bitterness and anger to discover what lies underneath. It our hearts are in the right place, we may just discover the beauty within our imperfection. If we allow life’s challenges to reshape our expectations, we can grow to love our patchwork lives. It all starts with a simple plan – allow God to shape your life. Don’t expect perfection as it will be rough around the edges. But in the end, your patchwork life may be more beautiful than you could have ever designed it to be.


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