A Little Roughed Up

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭

I bought sandpaper.

Okay. So what?

I know you’re wondering about the significance of buying sandpaper.

Well, it’s the novelty of it. Sandpaper just isn’t something I normally buy. But I have a cool new project on the go, and I needed some.

I’m learning how to do a faux finish on plastic pots.

I have a thing about plants. Those, I’ve bought a few of over the years. And when you buy a plant, a black plastic pot is tossed in with the purchase as a means to getting said plant home. So I have this amazing collection of plain plastic pots. A plethora of them. (Always wanted to use that word one day.)

I started wondering if I could do something with them, to reuse and repurpose them.

Hence the sandpaper.

The first step in all the faux finishes I’ve seen is to rough them up a little.

See, paint won’t stick to a shiny smooth surface very well, so I need to take some sandpaper and scrub them a bit to get some ‘tooth’ (look it up, it’s a thing) to help any new finish I add stick and adhere better.

As with pots, so in real life.

The first step in the beautification process is going through something rough.

Ouch.

Yeah, I know. I don’t like that part of the process any more than you do. But here’s the thing – any beautification process God wants to use in His design when it comes to you won’t adhere properly until that initial prep work is done. The surface needs to be primed, prepared for what is to come.

I know more than once, my good learning hasn’t stuck. It peeled off as I stubbornly rejected the hard lesson I was enduring.

Now, peeling paint and a half-baked glaze are not what God has in mind for you and I. He wants to do something amazing with the raw material that is us, add delicate details to our character, polish our attitudes, allow His goodness to shine through all the places that were damaged and scarred.

But we need to be prepared to have a few of those rough edges scraped off with the sandpaper of His truth – and if we aren’t in the right place emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, we will misjudge His good intentions and judge the final product without even seeing the blueprints. Pain does that. It wails and screeches and asks ‘Why me’ when the real question should be ‘What are you building in me, and how can I help?’

Are you feeling a little roughed up? Is life pinching you somewhere? Are you being challenged and stretched past your comfort zone?

Be truly glad.

This may be the first step in another of God’s craft projects in your life. And you want that beauty to stick to you.

Submit to God’s workmanship in your life with me?

Father, it does hurt when our old ideas or attitudes feel the grit of Your truth rubbing off some rough edges. Remind us that Your vision for us is delightful, refreshing, putting us to a better use, beautifying our characters, and creating new purpose for our lives. Help us to be patient and peaceful as You work in us. Amen.