Keeping Our Center ~ Day 78

Happy Monday!

Last summer I found an idea on Pinterest that was the perfect addition to our guest bedroom – a bookcase made from an old six-panel door. It took me a bit to track down a door, but finally picked one up for $30 in Kenosha. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it before I started repurposing, but here is one after I’d taken the panels out and started building the shelves, as well as one of the finished product.

The door was in pretty rough shape, but that was going to be part of the character. Julie didn’t like my concept of character much and tried to fill in some of the larger gashes when I wasn’t looking! In any case, with a great deal of help from my wonderful neighbor, Amy, we got the shelves finished in March. It’s taken me much sanding (you heard my sticky story if you’ve been following these) and many coats of stain, paint and poly to finally get it to the point of putting books on it. But I’m thrilled with the results.

Now, not only do I have literal doorway into a land of great stories, but there is something very satisfying about taking something old, honoring its character and value, and transforming it into something useful again. I’ve also learned that the process of transformation takes longer than expected (or longer than I’d like), involves quite a bit of trial and error, sometimes ideas don’t work, and it’s always a messy process.

As the Queen of Metaphors, I’m completely comfortable turning this into a metaphor about the spiritual journey. Our personal spiritual transformation requires time and effort, it doesn’t just happen overnight. We have to keep working on it, trying new spiritual practices, reading new books, talking to people and actively engaging the path to get anywhere. Some things will resonate with us and some things won’t. Such is life. And occasionally (though hopefully not often), we’ll find we have to back track and try a new path. Finally, it strikes me that the whole process can be quite messy and challenging. We’re apt to encounter conflicting ideas and experience tension between what we thought we knew and what we’re discovering. Staying with the process, however, can be very rewarding, eventually leading us to a new level in our spiritual journeys.

While I may have finished my bookcase, that doesn’t mean I’m done! This is also true of my spirituality. If we engage it, life is an exciting, ongoing process of growth and transformation.

Love & Light!

Kaye