This past weekend Chase and I celebrated one whole year in our home! Celebrating the progress we’ve made felt like such a huge milestone in our lives and I was so proud of all we’ve accomplished in just one short year. That is until I allowed myself to start comparing my home to other newlyweds houses and then I was sad. We still have bedrooms that need to be painted, trim that needs to be redone, furniture that needs to be bought, and fans that need to be replaced. The list goes on and on.
Stay Focused
I had to take a moment to realign my focus. Did you know that horses have peripheral vision just like we do? Because of that, when they are running races or doing any kind of work that requires them to focus on what is ahead of them they wear blinders. These blinders help to block their peripheral vision so that they can stay in their lane and keep their sight set on the path before them.
Sometimes we need to put on our proverbial blinders and stop looking at everyone else around us. My friend Erin says “don’t let someone else’s highlight reel cause you to believe the lie that you’re not enough.” She is wise beyond her years.
It’s so easy to get sucked into playing the comparison game. In an ideal world, we would have moved into our house on August 30th, painted every room in the house that first week, and had every room decorated in the farmhouse industrial chic style I love, but that’s not real life.
In real life, we closed on August 30 and moved my husband Chase’s bed and clothes in that day so he could stay at the house. I went to buy paint and hated every single test color I bought which meant a second trip to pick out paint. Then it took two whole days just to paint our living room and bedroom (even with the help of my sweet mom, grandmother, and two friends).
In real life, we didn’t have a dining room table until we’d already been in our house for 7 months and we still don’t have a new comforter set for our bed. We still sleep on twin-sized pillows and no doors on our bedroom closet, but you know what? I love my house!
Making Progress
We’ve only owned it for a year and we’ve made so much progress in that time! We’ve learned so much about each other and what it means to be humble, understanding, and servant-hearted in marriage. God has used our house and all its endless renovation projects to sanctify us and make us a better version of ourselves.
I don’t know why I had it in my head that our house had to be perfect in less than 72 hours. I don’t know why I thought my house needed to be perfect by the end of our first year in it. There’s so much beauty in the process of growing and changing and I’m thankful that things weren’t perfect right off the bat.
Our house reminds me that just like I’m not done working on our house and making it into the beautiful vision we have for it, God isn’t done working on us. He hasn’t given up on me even though he’s been sanctifying me for 16 years now and I’m still not perfect. I’m thankful that he didn’t ask me to be perfect on day one. He asked me to trust Him, follow Him, and allow Him to change me from the inside out.
Friend, let me tell you, it’s okay to be a work in progress! It’s totally fine if you’ve lived in your home for 5 years and you still don’t have furniture in every room. It’s okay if you’ve been out of college for years and still haven’t found your dream job. There’s nothing wrong with 3 years into battling anxiety and still having days that feel overwhelming. You’re a work in progress and it’s beautiful.
Take Erin’s advice. Don’t allow someone else’s highlight reel to take your focus away from all the great things God is doing in your life. Your path is different from theirs. So put your blinders on, keep your eyes on the Lord and keep moving forward.