monster project, part 2: reflections

I hope you had fun reading about my adventures in my last post on the dresser I just stained. It was super hard work, but I had a good time doing it. I actually did it for a reason, and it was a great experience for me.

As I’ve mentioned before, I work in the Young Women’s program at Church. There’s this program they have for the girls called “Personal Progress.” There are eight categories (“values”), and in each value there are “experiences” or goals. The girls complete seven experiences per value, and one big 10-hour project. For example, for the value of "Faith," one of the experiences is to pray morning and night for two weeks straight and record in your journal how you feel. It helps the girls establish a pattern of prayer in their lives.

So, after they complete all of these (what is that, like 48 experiences and 8 projects), they received their Young Womanhood Recognition. They have 6 years to do all this.

When I was in YWs, ahem, 10+ years ago, the program was a little bit different. We had seven values, and we completed 2 experiences in each value every 2 years, for the first 4 years. After each 2-year increment, if we had completed the 14 experiences, we’d get a recognition. Then, for the last 2 years, we did two big projects per year, 4 projects total, then we received a third recognition. If we got all three of the 2-year recognitions, we got the Young Womanhood Recognition, as well. Well, I did all of this – way back then! Yay!

BUT! Now that I’m a leader, they let us work to get the award AGAIN! So I’m all excited. Now that the program is different, the award looks a little bit different, and it would be cool to get it again.

So. That brings me to this post. I decided this dresser would be one of my 10-hour projects. I did it for the value “Individual Worth,” and as I was doing the project it really struck me how appropriate this project was, and how the project really applies to Individual Worth.

This is where I get sappy. I really felt like doing this project was a spiritual experience for me, and here are a couple of my insights:

• As I was sanding, I thought about how each of us has years of wear and tear on the outside, but underneath we are all beautiful. In one metaphor, we are all the same underneath, perfect unblemished pieces of wood – children of God – but on the outside we are all a little bit different. In another metaphor, no matter how many scratches we have, they can be erased and the perfection underneath can shine again. The Atonement does this for us. When those scratches are gone, it’s like they were never there. Wow.
  


• As I was staining, I thought about how this piece of wood wasn’t very flashy when I first got it. It was plain. But with a little time, energy, and patience, I was able to take it and turn it into exactly what I wanted. I could match it with furniture I already had, so it fit in my “grand plan” for Wesley's nursery. I think in our lives, the Lord has a plan for us. He can shape us, if we let him. He can turn us into something so much better than what we can do on our own. He doesn’t see a plain-ol’ piece of furniture – even if we see ourselves that way! – He sees a masterpiece.
  


• I really felt like this was an impossible project. As I got started, the thought crossed my mind, “why on Earth did I think I could do this?” I was sure I was in over my head and it would be disastrous. But now that I’m all done, and I perservered, it doesn’t seem so bad. It wasn’t impossible, I could do it. Did I need help? Yes! The guys at Lowe’s, Shane, my neighbor who kept asking me if I was done already, they all helped. I didn’t do it alone. Life is like this, too. Sometimes we are in over our heads. But I know my Father in Heaven helps me. I ask for his help. I am worth it to him; he wants me to succeed. I can do whatever I set my mind to; I am not a disastrous failure.
  


• I realized during staining that the stain isn't a just a "top coat" or finish of some sort; when a piece of wood is stained, the wood is forever changed. The new color runs through its very fibers, and they are permanently altered (like a tattoo or something). I think for those of us who know the gospel and love it, we feel that way, too. Or, it's that way with anything. When you discover scrapbooking or marathon running or being a mother, and how awesome those activities are, you're forever changed. The inside of you is permanently altered.
  


• When we work hard to erase trouble spots in our lives (maybe spots that are sins that we're giving up), and we're changing so we can be better, we've really got to sand away at them or they'll keep coming back. I was so surprised that that gash on the top of the dresser, the one I thought for sure was gone, came back up when I stained it. I guess it goes to show that things that haven't been completed eradicated can show up time and time again, if we don't make sure they're really gone in the first place. Perhaps it's the same way with our "favorite sins." If you decide to change, really change. Don't let those things back into your life.
  


• Lastly, although the wood did have knots and other various imperfections, those unique things give the finished piece of furniture character. It's nothing to fret about! Of course it looks different than any other dresser; there's no other one out there like it. Just like us.
  

See how all this fits with Individual Worth? Cool, huh?

This is probably the most involved series of posts I’ve ever written, so if you’re still reading, and remained interested, thanks for the support! Here’s to many more seemingly impossible yet thrilling projects!