A few members of the beautiful, imperfect, in-process people I call my family.
Beautiful doesn’t mean perfect –
Cindy Crawford is outwardly perfect
Cindy W-H (me) isn’t…
So when I reflect upon my life
There are plastic times when things on the outside might have looked good or better than they do now
But they were hideous had you looked much deeper
Families are beautiful but a lot of effort
Searching for sparkly pretties in a heap of ashes – much effort required
It is messy work, I have been warned
The pastor said something the other day that has resonated with me profoundly this week –
Here’s something imperfect and not so beautiful = sideways milk. I confess I had a few unbeautiful moments when I discovered this in my fridge…
Just remember the people you are with, they are in- process too.
And he said this too, which I wrote down because it sounded so good.
Life for those who love Jesus is not like a Russian novel that just ends in horror and despair. It has a purpose that will work together for good, the Lord’s process. “Remember,” my pastor said, “that He’s strip-mining you, He’s designed us to live through struggles, pain, confusion, weakness and suffering. Your relationship to God determines the meaning of your life.”
Something beautiful will result for those who love Jesus – we belong in the next world. This isn’t science fiction. This is promise.
Father, I seek to appreciate the beautiful, imperfection of this earthly home and can’t wait to see all the treasures and sparklies in the world ahead.
Thank you Five Minute Friday for giving me a chance to write about this word! Check it out and join the writing explosion!
My Awesome Olive Shoots 
Stopping by from Five Minute Friday!
If there was ever a season in my family where I needed this reminder: “Just remember the people you are with, they are in- process too…” it is now. These past 6 months have been hard with various things going on, but this was a great reminder. It’s all a process. Thank you!
Jess
jesselyse.weebly.com
Gurl, I needed to hear this sermon for the week ahead! So appreciate your words and empathize, hope you can find the beautiful in the midst of it all! Bless you, FMFriday friend!
Refreshing. It’s so easy to get caught up in the struggles and messy of life and forget that God is working behind the scenes to make all this mess into something beautiful. A great song by Gungor illustrates that verse about Jesus making all things new and taking beauty for ashes. “You make beautiful things…You make beautiful things out of us.” Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
I love the Gungor illustrations! They make me cry every single time! Thanks for reminding me! I love that song also!
I think this is what Ann Voskamp is saying when she says ‘all is grace’. 🙂
Love the quote about Russian novels.
Sandy, when the pastor said the Russian novel thing, I thought that was such a cool analogy! Praise the Lord for His grace and compassion! Thanks for your comments as always!
Oh how true, Cindy! I love the line, “Searching for sparkly pretties in a heap of ashes – much effort required.” I nearly daily have my share of non-beautiful moments too. Thank you for the good reminder that this is not the end of the story! 🙂
Thank you Sharon! I imagine you have a very unique perspective and I loved your post about “beautiful,” it reminded me of women I know who probably would never call themselves beautiful but they are! Great hearing from you and seeing you are still blogging!