Clearing up the clutter

I always say that if you want a beautiful home you have to let go of the ugly. You have to let go of that ugly blanket with the moth holes and the broken vase that you glued back together, because it was sentimental. As a designer I can create a plan for your space. We can choose the paint for the walls and look for the perfect lamp for the entry way table, but if you insist on keeping the ugly parts of your current home I can't make the plan I've so painstakingly created come together. You can't keep all of the clutter that covered every surface of your home and expect the room to come together according to the plan. No one will notice that you have redesigned the space.

The same philosophy applies to fashion. You can't wear the "IT" dress of the season with a pair of crocs simply because they are the most comfortable things you've ever put on your feet. You miss out on the full design potential of the outfit.

In my time with God over the past year He has been showing me that he is  a designer.  He created the whole universe. He has a master plan and a purpose for everything he created. He even wants to clothe us in the garments of righteousness. He wants to give us a beautiful life full of grace and joy and love. But we have grown accustomed to the clutter in our hearts. We are comfortable with the postmortem remains of broken hearts, broken families, lost dreams, bitterness and the false pearls of sin.

My design philosophy was adopted from my own observations  of the habits of people, but it applies to my spiritual life as well. Beauty for Ashes comes out of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:3 "To all who mourn He will give a crown of beauty for ashes. A joyous blessing instead of mourning and festive praise insead of despair." God wants to trade your ashes for the beauty he has for you. He wants to give you a purpose and a hope, He wants to take your pain and bitterness and replace them with joy and love. It's a promise. It's a philosophy not just for the design of a room but for the heart. For a life lived beautifully.

I have struggled to reconcile my social justice heart with the passion I have for fashion and design. Over the years I have thought one to be frivolous. God has shown me that he created me to be a creative being who loves beauty. The two can be united by a common thread. With this blog I want to inspire beautiful homes not just for the eye, but also for the hearts of the families who live in them and for the friends they welcome. I want to make women look and feel beautiful not just on the outside, But I want them to feel beautiful on the inside so that they can bring beauty into the lives of others. 

I encourage you to get out a bag go to your closet and ask yourself what can I part with? Look on your bookshelf do you really need all of those books?  As you clear the physical clutter from your life ask God if there is any emotional clutter that is holding you back. And let it go so that you can enter into the full plan of what he has for you.