CANVAS

I love a blank CANVAS. It's an invitation for me to create something. It's a new beginning, a chance to start something new. A blank CANVAS can also produce some doubts and fears. Will it turn out like I want it to? Will I be disappointed? 

For the last year or more, I've been carrying around an idea in my head. I enjoy playing with color and paints. Finally, one evening I became brave enough to buy some paints and a large canvas (bigger than the one in the above photo). Then I played...

While it did not turn out exactly like I imagined it in my mind, I enjoyed the process of creating it immensely. It inspired me to keep practicing and playing. So we'll see what the future holds in this area of my life.

A few other projects that have kept me busy lately involved finding pieces of furniture at second hand stores. But of course I am looking at each object as a CANVAS upon which to create something new and fresh; something to fulfill my purposes for it. Take a look.

We found a set of chairs with worn, dull wood and ugly fabric. We removed the seat, stained and polished the wood frame. 

I bought a yard of fabric to match the fabrics of our living room couch and curtains. Cut it to size... 

stapled it in place, attached the seat to the chair frame and...

... a new set of chairs!

I discovered a set of bookshelves in yet another second hand store a few weeks later. And it was two for a good price. I would use one in the study and the other in the family room. (I still had several boxes from our move yet to unpack; all of them filled with books.) We hauled the bookshelves home only to discover we couldn't stand them up in our basement where we needed to store them until we had time to paint them.



Again, they were dark, dull and worn. But I saw good lines in them. We laid them down, stripped them of hardware, and primed them.




We purchased shiny new knobs. A fresh coat of semi-gloss white paint gave them new life. For the one in the study, I painted the back panel a soft gray-blue. Now I can begin to unpack the boxes of books.

 This house has been my CANVAS. The renovation and design has been a process of creating that I am enjoying immensely. 


What is your CANVAS?


I think God uses our lives as his CANVAS. He sees wonderful purpose and beauty in us. We may feel dull and dark and useless or cast aside. He wants to refresh us and use us for his purposes. Allow him to touch you with his creative hands. His Word speaks new life into our souls. 

"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." (NLT)

Ephesians 2:10