For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (The Living Bible)
For a while, I’ve been thinking about how to redecorate oldest son’s room. I didn’t want to move too rapidly lest he come back home and not feel welcome, but I also didn’t want to leave it as a shrine full of twenty year old soccer trophies and stuffed animals. So, I moved slowly and planned. The room is a large one. When husband and I built this house twenty five years ago, we used designs taken from Southern Living magazine. They were for a house called Cracker Cottage and were intended to build a small weekend beach house. We loved the wrap around porch, high pitched roof with three dormers along the second floor, two fireplaces and open spaces. It is actually a simple design, two rooms and a bath on each floor with a kitchen and breakfast room tucked into the back. Because the plans were generic and not made for Florida’s building code, we had to take them to a draftsman to revise and refine. As we talked to him and measured out the room sizes, we decided we wanted our bedroom and the kitchen to be a bit larger. What we didn’t think about was that when we added a few feet in one spot, we were adding them to the whole house. As a result, the two upstairs bedrooms grew to thirty by fifteen feet, enormous proportions for a bedroom. Now, the large space of oldest son’s room has become mine, and I envisioned a combination guest room with space for a computer and crafts. I wanted something country, something tropical, but mostly something well put together and stylish. Something like you see in a magazine. The problem is that I shop at discount stores and can’t give away anything. Somehow, two beds, one double and one queen, a daybed with a trundle, bookshelf, desk, rocking chair and dresser found their way in there and haven’t come out. The double bed has almost new bedding, and I found something similar for the queen bed on sale. I threw a comforter over the daybed to hide its ugly black and brown printed cover. Once I paint, I will hang some watercolor prints of the beach. No matter what I do though, it doesn’t look like what I had in my head. In fact, with all those beds up there, it looks like a redneck bed and breakfast. We can sleep seven comfortable, more if there are kids. I often feel the same way about myself. I wish I were quieter, bolder, introspective, smarter, frugal, giving, attractive and the list goes on. Yet, I am simply me, and that person is God’s creation designed by him to be exactly as He would have me to be. To wish I am someone else insults His handiwork. I’m learning to be content with who I am even if I am a person with a big mismatched guestroom. Ya’ll come on down. I’ll leave the light on for you.
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