Chipped

These are my nails.  This is what they look like most days.  Chipped.

Chipped because I do stuff.  I wash my hands a lot.  I play a lot.  I pick crayon paper off of crayons to break them and melt them into new crayons…because it’s fun.  I don’t paint my nails because I’m a girly girl.  I’m not.  I paint them because I’m a career nail biter.  I find I do better in not biting or picking my nails if they have paint on them.

Plus, my boys and I do love to paint!  What fun!  I don’t let the boys paint their nails, but I let them help me pick my weekly polish and even boldly let little fingers paint my big ones.  They are messy, and that is okay.  I’m a chipped kind of girl.

I like beauty, but I am totally over being perfect.  Today’s quote on my little in(RL) flip book was so precious to me today…May 4…

“There is no competition, ladies.

There is no little room that only a few can enter.

There are two choices, and the ironic part is that they don’t affect you.

Start tonight (or this morning), and do something bold.

Ask God to humble you (#1) and raise others up (#2).” –-Angie Smith, Bring the Rain

Wow!  Humbleness is hard.  I want to raise myself up often.  I want to be noticed.  Jesus’ message to us was totally different.  He came to serve.  He came humble…a baby, a carpenter, a servant to many.  He raised others up.  Do we do the same?  It takes effort.  It takes being okay with the “chipped.”  When we put our hands and hearts in the messy situations, we often find this is where grace lies.

In our kitchen is this sketch by Lori Withner, a friend and graphic artist from Georgia.  When we lived there my husband and I did a Disciple 3 Bible Study…during that one of the verses was about clay pots.  Lori sketched this and framed it for each of us.  A sweet token of memory.  We are all “chipped.”  p.s. Please comment if you know the verse.  I cannot find it on Biblegateway or in my brain!