Waiting for the Finished Product

I remember when I was in elementary school that I posted a note on my bedroom door with an excessively long acronym on it. It was "PBPGINFWMY". Bet you don't know what that stands for, or how you'd say it. "Pub Pug Infamy" maybe? I have no idea, nor do I know where I came up with it. But it stands for "Please Be Patient, God Is Not Finished With Me Yet". Why I thought that made sense to place it on my door in acronym form, I have no clue, but the idea was, even in my young years, I knew I didn't have it all together and I knew I needed some slack.

I'm trekking into my thirties now, and I still want PBPGINFWMY posted on my door or maybe my forehead. Because I know I'm still not a finished product. And you know what? That bothers me way more than it bothers anyone else. I need to cut myself some slack way more than anyone else does and I need my own patience way more than from anyone else. Because being incomplete, unfinished, and unpolished is not how I want to be. I find it embarrassing, humiliating, and frustrating. I want to be a piece of art ready for the show room, and kept behind lock and key where only the artist can see me until I'm finished. But with life this is not how it goes.

This serves as the before and during. :) Yes, I'm waving.

The black filing cabinets with my son as just a babe.

This actually ended up getting painted black after this pic was taken and stayed that way for quite a while.

We're all unfinished products. And no one appreciates and 'after' picture unless they see the 'before'. Because the beauty lies in the journey and the transformation.  Cody and I have brought some old mundane things back to life lately and I love the before and afters. But I didn't really want anyone to see the "during" only because they didn't know from where the pieces had come. It's the same with me, some people don't know how far I've come, they're only seeing the "during", the incomplete, and I don't like that so much.

Filing cabinets and coffee table finished with my adorable kiddos.

But then I must remind myself:

I'm Perfectly Imperfect. The whole point of this blog is to live an authentic, transparent life, while encouraging others to do the same. So if I wait to show up until I feel I'm complete, then I'll live my whole life in hiding. So I have to accept myself the way I am right now and know that

I am wholly and completely loved by a whole and complete God 

who's not finished with me yet, and He won't be until the day Christ Jesus returns. So until then, I just live in the "during", telling others of my before and how far God has already brought me, knowing my only "after" will be in Heaven with Jesus, shining bright. Whole and complete.

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Philippians 1:6