Making Things Beautiful

Hi All!

Sorry that I've been gone for so long! If you read my other blog, Gates of Crystal, you know I've been busy!

I used to wonder if decorating my home was ok with God. I wondered if I was laying up treasure in the wrong place and valuing the wrong things.

I started decorating when I was a kid. I would rearrange my furniture in my bedroom and it was important to me that my room was clean. It was a reflection of 'me' even then. I remember finding out a friend's mom was selling a piece of furniture that I liked and telling my mom. My mom bought it for my room.

When I was in high school, I picked out a new bedspread and had my mom take me to the store for paint. I painted my room by myself on a Friday night. I was an only child and my mom worked full time so I was home alone a lot. I would clean and get things perfect and then enjoy the house. (I never liked to cook!)

When my husband first got his PhD, we moved several times before he got a tenure-track position. We rented homes in two different states we lived in and it was really hard for me that I couldn't paint the rooms. I had learned by then to sew slipcovers so I would match my furniture to the carpet of the house. I also loved garage sales and estate sales and that's when I started finding furniture at prices I could afford. I babysat children from our church so that my kids would have playmates and we would have the extra money.

My family has thought that I was a little obsessed at times. But being a stay-at-home mom for so many years and homeschooling (which requires you to stay at home) it was the thing that kept me sane. I could control my environment.

And that's what brings me to this thought. When we visited The Mises Institute in Auburn in March, I sat in on several of the talks. The Mises Institute is a Libertarian based think-tank and a lot of the people involved are Christian. I love attending the conferences there and often times will hear the Holy Spirit teach me while I'm listening to a lecture.

I was listening to a gentleman give a very informative talk about how our government is causing farmers to not be able to own land and to farm when the Holy Spirit began to enlighten me.

One of the first commands God gave was 'to be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the Earth.' Without apology, I will say that I don't believe that God's intent was that we take dominion with guns or force but His intent was that we take dominion over evil with love and salvation.

If you read the Old Testament, many of the stories are exactly this: take dominion over the Earth. Obviously, the story of the Children of Israel being set free and taking the Promised Land would be the big one.

I believe we're each given a 'realm of influence.' For some, it may just be their families but for others it may be a Bible study, a neighborhood, a congregation. For some, it will be a world-wide influence. All with the same goal: take dominion, in Jesus' Name, over the Earth.

Where the enemy has brought destruction and chaos, we are to bring healing and love. Where there is lack and loss, we are to bring love and covenant relationship. Where there is ugliness, we are to bring beauty.

Whatever we touch should be better off for having us there. We are the light of the world. Joy, love and beauty should be the fragrance we leave behind when we go.

I believe that ALL people are creative. They ALL were made in the image of God and God is a creator. All children love music, love to move to music and dream of 'making' something. My grandson wants to be an inventor when he grows up and he's always talking about what he's going to invent. (My daughter doesn't have a microwave because of the negative health issues it causes and one day he said he was going to invent something that heated your food real fast! Ha!)

I never want to value the things I own more than God or the people He's put in my life. Therefore, I give a lot of things away. It doesn't bother me one bit. God has asked me before to give away things that were the most dear to me~ my Bible, a banner that I took everywhere and was like an extension of my arm, all my worship dance dresses~ those were the things that were hard to give away. They represent my heart more than my house.

But I believe that God spoke something into us when He told us to take dominion over the Earth and in a lot of us women, we express that with our homes. This is our territory where we express ourselves and want to have a perfect representation of who we are. And God is the creator of color and beauty. God wants our homes to be an oasis in a crazy world.

I ask God when I want a specific piece of furniture and He always brings me the most amazing deals! The Word tells us that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He brings us the desires of our heart.

love and blessings~