Covering things up

This week I did something so out of my box that I am still grinning to myself. I did something really "crafty". As I have stated before I am allergic to crafts of any kind. Stamping, needlework, painting, the list goes on and on. But... I have six very old dining room chairs in my formal dining room. I actually use this room pretty often too. The upholstery on the chairs was very ugly and needed replacing eleven years ago when I bought the suite at an antique store. So the "quick to step up girl" I am finally bought some fabric to cover these chairs. Two years ago. Speedy is my middle name. Let me also confess right now that I also am allergic to fabric stores in general. I cannot understand for the life of me how you can enjoy sewing clothes when they sell perfectly good ones in stores. Don't hand me the "it saves money" line either. When you add in labor, time, stress and all the other tasks involved in sewing, a good (and I am) shopper can beat your price everytime! Back to the chairs. My dear friend Kelley so sweetly volunteered to help me cover them. We got together this week and she actually cut all the fabric for me and showed me how to cover these chairs. My staple gun was out of staples. I do not own one but borrowed my daddy's. I neglected to get staples. Go figure. So she taped one and then I followed her pattern. When I found out I had to iron the fabric I nearly had a seizure! I consider ironing a craft. The suffering of these allergies never ends. I ironed all the fabric and one by one I covered these chairs. They look great if I say so myself. It brought to my mind all kinds of things that I cover in my life. Things I am currently battling inside. Constant temptations. Bitter feelings. Anger over issues. Deep sadness and lonliness over lost loved ones. How fast life is going by me and I keep looking for a place to grab on. Many things. Do we as "Christian Women" just smile and cover up all this stuff? For the most part we do. There have been times when I just want to throw my head up and scream and yell and throw a royal fit. I have a few times too. As I covered those ugly worn out chair seats with beautiful, new, crisp fabric I kept thinking of all the ugly layers inside me that I keep covering up. Dear ladies, we do not have to cover it up. We can allow the holy healing balm of Jesus to rip the ugliness right off. It hurts but in the long run there are no deep twisting scars to deal with. No roots that grow and dig and choke. I am praying right now for myself and all my sweet friends that we allow "El-Roi" The God Who Sees....way down through the layers to begin the ripping process so the healing can begin.

Bless y'all!

Cindy