This is one of those blogs I’m probably pondering way too deeply. While lying in bed, typing it out on my phone… waiting until melatonin kicks in to help transport me to another night of vivid dreaming.
I had a sudden urge to share one of my random dreams the other night. But I’ll spare you, and just make the idea into a book one day. So painting in a thrift store.
As I write this, I stare at two paintings that hang together on my wall. One is a beautiful blue, green, and pink tones (the northern lights) over snow-covered mountains at night. The artist did a fabulous job framing the focal point with spruce trees.
The other is a beautiful fall setting including poplar/Aspen trees and pine trees on each side of a reflecting silent, calm river. There is one lone tree that leans into the river as if it were about to lean over and quench its thirst.
I thought about selling both of them at one point, but with each- I appreciate the beauty of them as I have now had them for 5+ years.
I want you to picture walking into a thrift store. You may look around and see junk to your left and to your right. But wait. Sitting on a shelf, past dusty furniture, old workout equipment, and way too many used Keurigs… you see something that catches your eye. A beautiful painting that you feel shouldn’t be there.
How in the world though are you going to wade past all the ‘junk’ you do not see as valuable and retrieve this masterpiece? One by one.
As we grow in life, it’s sometimes unclear to ourselves how we are going to get to a certain spot in our life. We see too many obstacles a like to what is blocking you, in that thrift store metaphor. Heavy problems that seem to just sit around in the way, weigh on our hearts and our minds. Petty thoughts sit in never-ending seas just waiting for you to get triggered because you haven’t let them go.
One by one we have to start removing the junk or checking off the ‘self-improvement’ to-do lists in our life.
I love using mirror analogies while writing. It’s the easiest for someone to comprehend when I say, “look into the mirror and what do you see?” But the truth is, sometimes, we need to dig a bit deeper than surface level.
Sometimes, we need to evaluate the painting and appreciate the beauty we see in it. You are the masterpiece. You are also the painter. You are capable of wading through all of the noise that you hold within you to arrive at the beautiful painting on the shelf.
Danae Decker 