Today I spent the day with my sweet friend, Jaime. We tackled painting a piece of furniture that we found for her a week or two ago at a second hand shop.  The music was playing and the roller and brush were flying.  And it is turning out awesome and will be so so cute in her new house.

While we were painting, we were talking about how much redoing furniture is like when our lives are being transformed.  As we painted the first coat, we could see the potential, but the look was not pretty yet, by any means.  It was all we could do to wait to put on the next coat.  But the next coat would not be effective unless the first coat was dry.  It required patience to enjoy and relish the process.  It was somewhat tedious to paint in all the corners and crevices, the places where the roller could not reach.   It took time to do it right.  By the time the second coat was on, hours had passed.  Oh, how we wished our project was done!  Not just because of the hard work, but because we were anxious to see the final product. But it was obviously going to take a third coat. We took a break for lunch and then Jaime had to leave for work.  As I headed back to the garage to apply the third coat I noticed something very quickly.  Although I was doing the exact same work I had been doing earlier with each prior coat, it now seemed easier, more effortless.  I had learned to work with it and had figured out what worked well and what didn’t.

When I left with huge blotches of paint on my jeans and in my hair, I realized something.  I have always loved the correlation between refurbishing furniture and transforming lives.  But I had never really looked at how similar the processes are.   Both require patience, time, and an understanding that the final product is worth every ounce of pain and frustration, sweat and tears.  Often things get uglier before they get more beautiful.  But we can’t rush the process or the result will not be the same.  We need to enjoy and not wish away the journey of getting there.  Because much of the magic of the transformation happens within the most difficult or ugly parts of that journey.  The end result is just the culmination of all the little transformations that happened along the way.

So, sweet Jaime, thanks for another life lesson today.  Always so wonderful to spend time with you and ponder out loud our faith and our wonderful God. And sing a little (always in harmony!) and laugh a lot.  I will miss you greatly, friend.  Enjoy your new “finished product”.  I hope it gives you years and years of new memories and a daily reminder of a friend who loves you dearly… 🙂