Restoration, Grace and Stars

It has been quiet on the Linwood House blog but not the least bit quiet within these walls. We are still cleaning up after two floods in the front part of the house and as I write painting, tiling and restoring baseboards is underway. Then we can begin to decorate the other half of the house in its celebratory garb for Christmas.

Yet something wonderful has come out of all of this mess. We have been deep cleaning the attic, the office, the laundry room…taking out what we don’t need, what is outdated and keeping what is essential and valuable. It has also brought wonderful people to do the work and they are feeling something special as they participate.

In our Monday night Happy Hour women’s group we talked about grace, how have we experienced grace, extended grace and wished we had been more conscious of giving grace. This comes with taking off our mask and being honest and “true faced”. Sorting what we don’t need also brings us to the place of revealing who we really are.

A great quote from the book TrueFaced : “Grace is the face that love wears, when it meets imperfection. Joseph R. Cooke” Pg 83

I am thinking about this wonderful blend of grace, love and imperfections. Restoring the beauty after the floods is like revealing the grace with eyes of love that see not only the imperfections but the delightful wonder and beauty.

The theme at Linwood House this Christmas is “Stars” – the stars revealed by Jesus in our life and the scars in our own lives that have brought out those star like qualities.

Restorations, grace, scars and revealed stars – they are all connected I think.

Oh yes...Christmas is coming!