Help me out here

Ok, so I had part of an epiphany this morning, but my brain is on too many things to take it all the way. So help me out here and give me the application you see in it, if you’d be so kind.

When Zoe paints, she piles all of the colors on top of each other, in one little segment of whatever she’s painting, leaving the rest blank. This morning it was a treasure box she got for her birthday, and as she attacked the glitter paints with glee, I suggested that she not put all the colors in a little 2 inch space on the top of the box, but also paint the sides and back and front, so that 1)you could see all the colors, 2) the whole box would be covered, and 3) it wouldn’t take years to dry.

And as I explained this I had the distinct impression that there’s a lesson for me to learn in that, particularly in the whole box being covered. But my thoughts on it are swirling and won’t settle, so please share your thoughts, and we’ll see if they line up with mine.

3 thoughts on “Help me out here

  1. Hilary on

    Okay, so my initial, unsorted-out thoughts are:
    It makes me think about the process of perfection and becoming like God. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit the Lord told them that he would prolong their lives (not make them die right then and there, which was the consequence of partaking of the fruit) so that they would have time to repent (and in my head that is synonymous with time to work on perfecting themselves in a venue in which that was possible – mortality). So, my thought is, the paint reminds me of areas in our lives that need “perfecting”. If we try to work on all of them at the same time (pile them all on top of each other), it is impossible to succeed (cover the entire box) and we really won’t get much “perfecting” done (taking forever to dry). But if we try to slowly and steadily walk the path of perfecting; working on a much fewer number of things at a time and understanding that there is a time and a season for everything, we will find we have eventually covered some of the box and as we look back on where we’ve been, we’ll see that some of the paint we put on long ago has now dried and become permanent.
    Goodness, when I read that over, it isn’t near as cool as it was in my head. This probably isn’t at all what your epiphany is about, but there you have it. 🙂 I can’t help but feel self-indulgent in taking up so much space here.
    Good luck in sorting it all out. And thanks for reminding me to look for lessons in all parts of my life!!
    Love you!!!!

  2. Maryanne on

    Ooh Hil, I totally love that. It is as cool as it was in your head. (I’m assuming- I mean, I don’t really know how cool it was in your head.) 🙂 I especially like the image of our paint being dried and permanent- instead of easy to smear away again.

  3. Cousin Kim on

    I love that same part in Hilary’s explanation too.

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