Flaws and All...

I swear my nightstand whispered to me as I was painting her these past few days. "Step back," she urged, quietly begging me to put my brush down and step away from the table. As much as she enjoyed her makeover, I think if she could have, she would have screamed, "Enough already!" Instead, she graciously let me sand and paint and scrutinize her every last detail. She let me get so close to her curves and grooves, I got paint dust in my eyes. She patiently let me judge every detail of her body and soul, until finally I put the brush down and stepped back.  What I saw was pretty cool.

It's funny the life lessons I'm learning through these projects that have nothing to do with sandpaper, paint and wax. This week, the Universe made it clear that sometimes you just need to take a step back and look at the big picture to see its beauty.  Sometimes we get so up close and personal with our feelings, judgments and scrutiny that we lose sight of the good stuff.  We criticize our family and friends for the little things they didn't do and forget to notice all of the things they did. We are quick to discipline our kids and sometimes overlook their good behavior. We judge strangers without knowing the full story. And worse, we look so closely at ourselves, we sometimes go cross-eyed from the self-criticism. If you look at anything too closely, you are going to find flaws. Nothing and nobody is perfect. I fretted over every nook and cranny of this table. I found every imperfection in my brush stroke, and questioned every placement of distressing. Was it too much? Not enough? The poor table must have felt so exposed! It wasn't until I heard her silent pleading to back off that I saw how great she looked.  And furthermore, her imperfections are what made her perfect. At least to me.

What I learned was that I wasn't just asking "Is this nightstand good enough?", but "Am I"? Wouldn't it be great if we took a step back today from all of our judgments and criticisms, of each other and ourselves? Instead of looking so closely at each other's faults and at our own imperfections, what if we saw the beauty of things from a broader point of view?

My nightstand and I are about to have a cup of coffee before I move her to new home in the guest room. And I'm not even going to use a coaster!

The Before...