Meet Me in the Middle

A Lenten Curation Project

Christian Calendar

Just a Little Paint…

With just a little paint, Heidi turns wooden pegs into families. This reminds me of how God is a great Creator. He created us and our families.

My sweet friend Heidi is a creative momma. She takes little wooden pegs with no faces or personality and, with just a little paint, she makes them into families, giving them lives, and names. What a before & after!

Sample Pinterest Pin Description:

This reminds us of how God is a great Creator. He created us and our families. Though Adam, the first man sinned and broke relationship with God, through Jesus, we all may become part of God’s family. Because of Jesus, we are called children of God (1 John 3:1).

FOR INSTAGRAM

With just a little paint, Heidi turns wooden pegs into families. This reminds me of how God is a great Creator. He created us and our families.

Sample Instagram Post:

God is a Creator. He created love and relationships and family. Through Jesus we are able to be part of HIS family. #MeetMeintheMiddleProj #LentenCuration #ObserveLent #Lent #ChurchYear #FamilyofGod #ChildrenofGod

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 John 3:1, ESV). 

Learning to Love the Middle

I’m a huge fan of the Property Brothers on HGTV. If I am folding clothes, I am usually watching Jonathan and Drew Scott as they help families purchase and remodel rundown properties. At the end, after showing all the ups and downs of the process, they tour the beautiful renovation. It’s a dream home! As the astonished homeowners gawk and sob, one of the brothers always says—this must be their catch-phrase—”You deserve it!”

HGTV-showchip-property-brothers

It’s the same thing every episode…so why do I watch this show? Why do any of us love Before & After stories? New hairdos, wardrobe overhauls, refurbished vehicles and kitchens, weight-loss/fitness makeovers…we LOVE to see the evidence of change.

But what does it take to get there? To get to the beautiful ending? Work. Sweat. Maybe some tears. We crave the perfect, the product, but, often, we despise the process it takes to get there.

Most of us dread the workout, but want to look great in our jeans. We don’t enjoy cleaning, but we love the shiny, sweet-smelling endpoint. We don’t like waiting, We want results, and we want them fast. We don’t want to wait for anything. This is the way of the world.

Yet, this is not the way of the Lord:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecc. 3:11, ESV

What if…we realized that most of life is lived in the Middle? That most of life is work, sweat, and tears?

What if…we saw a Before & After and did not covet the result, but admired the effort exerted?

What if…we acknowledged that every “Big Reveal” pales in comparison to the biggest reveal of them all—the Resurrection?

God made us. He knows how we appreciate object lessons. Every Before & After points to real work…and ultimately to the Worker of all improvements. God is our Redeemer, Reconciler, and Renewer. He is the Powerful Provider, the Perfecter of Our Faith, the Purifier of Our Souls.

As much as we want to hurry projects along, God determines our pace. As much as we want our growth to come quickly, He sets the schedule. And though we hunger for change, we are designed to crave the Change Agent.

So, welcome to my little project! This website is the home-base for a Lenten Curation. Here we will work together to collect, or CURATE, Before & After pictures. But in this place, we will always see a different purpose for Before & Afters—they are meant to point to God in the Middle, always at work, making things right.

So, Meet Me in the Middle! This is a journey of learning to be satisfied with the work and pace of the Lord. I’m glad to have you with us!

Meet Me Signature

The Maddening Joy of Solving a Puzzle

Through solving a puzzle, we can see how God has a design for each one of us. He has plans for our moments, days and years.BEFORE & AFTER SOLVING THE PUZZLE…

We left the puzzle pieces on the homeschool table and worked to solve it in between math tests and latin conjugation. We snuck moments together before dinner and after the dishes were done. Working on a puzzle is a maddening joy.

We lost pieces for days—they were under the bench. We joined shapes the wrong way…we forced things to fit together that weren’t made for each other. We had to keep going till we came to terms with the original design for each piece.

God has a design for each of us. He has plans for our moments, days and years. We might try to force things to go our way, but they won’t work that way. Constantly, faithfully, He is at work to create the picture that He created our lives to be. Through the work of jesus Christ, He is always making good.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, ESV).

For Instagram

Through solving a puzzle, we can see how God has a design for each one of us. He has plans for our moments, days and years.

Sample Instagram Post:

Jesus takes all the pieces in our lives, that don’t seem fit, and uses them to create a beautiful picture of His love for us. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:17, ESV).

#MeetMeintheMiddleProj #LentenCuration #ObserveLent #Lent #ChurchYear #FamilyTime #FamilyGames