Ever notice that, no matter what you do, there is always more you could do?
In our purging, cleaning and repairing of our house to see, that lesson of ‘always more’ has become so very evident.
The more I clean, the more I realize that could be cleaned.
The more I purge, piling into boxes to go to the thrift store, the more I wonder if I really need what I still have.
The more we repair, the more that we are aware could also be fixed, or painted, or replaced.
Then there’s the ‘new’ projects that keep surfacing … the lightbulb the blew out the other evening, the dishwasher handle that broke off this weekend.
I keep hearing this voice in my head saying, “people who see the house are going to only see what needs to be done” (like I do). Certainly there will be those who do only see the little nicks in the paint, or the dust that was missed, but most will not see what I see at all, for they will see our house with fresh eyes. They will see a living room big enough for a crowd, a kitchen full of cabinets, and extra living space in the basement. That is what they are looking to buy, not our dust, or the paint nicks (that they will cover with their paint colour preference).
We are so critical of what we possess.
It is like when a photo is taken of ourselves. We look at our image as needing lots of work! Our friends and loved ones see our smile, the warmth in our eyes.
We tend to see our homes, ourselves, through a critical eye, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So I will try to close my eyes to what could be improved, and leave things to those who will see through their eyes.
itsawonderfilledlife 
Carole – thank you for this ‘beauty’ful post – I spent many years keeping a ‘perfect’ home – in my mind’s eye, I felt that pride in ownership was paramount – in a sense, it was as if my home defined ‘me’ somehow – I do believe that I made a perfect home my idol – when the ‘aha’ moment arrived (in His time, of course), I could finally see the beauty in God and His plans/works – He gave me a seeing eye to view my home through a completely different lens – I was blessed – I am reminded of a visit from a friend who, once seated in my living room, stated, “Deb, there’s a cobweb on your ceiling” – to which I responded with, “Isn’t that great!! – Indeed, beauty is in the eye of the beholder – Blessings!!
Debra,
I can so relate to having idolized my home in the past (I certainly do hope it is in the past, though it resurfaces again so easily). The striving for perfection was endless! Love your cobweb story!
Carole