Staging

I had the honor of going to Tyler this weekend and helping one of my heart friends sell her staging furniture that she stages homes all over East Texas with. I walked into the store front and was amazed by all the work that had gone into setting the pieces up to look like perfect staged rooms. Each area had all the right pieces...couch, love seat, chair, rug, table, table runner, flower arraingement, lamps...everything you need to make a house ready for sale. Especially the main looking area of a house...the living room (isn't that the first room you see) and the kitchen (usually the second room you see).
I begin to think of how we stage ourselves to get ready to sell ourselves and others on the fact that we are a great deal and are perfect for them to invest in. We get all the basics in place...the right clothes, the perfect hair cut, and makeup (for the ladies). We then try to accesorize the house we want to sell. We put on the right jewelry, cologne, watch and shoes. We make sure that our house looks well put together and that whoever looks at it will see all the work we put into it and want to buy it. We hope they do not look to deep. We want them to be so taken in by what they see they will choose to invest thier time and money in us without looking below the surface.
Many of believe that if they choose to look too close they will see the tiny cracks in the paint. They will see the tread marks that others have left on us. We hope they will not see that our foundaton is cracked and we know it is not worth what we are wanting them to give for us.
The thing about all of this is...when we stage our lives just like staging a house to sell we are trying to persuade a person to want us...the fact is YOU are already wanted.
Empty houses do not sell...statics have shown that a person cannot or will not use their imagination to see past the fascade to see what the house could become. Isn't that true with people in our lives. Aren't we afraid that the people in our lives will not see what we can become. So we stage. If that staging didn't work we will buy new stuff to stage ourselves with...new clothes, diet, new hair cut, new job... If that staging doesn't work...we will again buy new stuff...until someone is impressed enough to buy into us.
And if no one ever buys into us, we condemn ourselves for not being enough. We settle for the first buyer and get cheated on the very best that is out there for us.
The thing about it is...God knows you from the foundation out...He has an AMAZING imagination (just look around you). You don't have to stage your house for Him and pretend that you are something you are not. He already bought you. You do not have to impress anyone to invest their time and riches into you. He already does that. He showers us with riches we can't even contain. He sees our cracks and knows that our foundations are broken. He also know He can fix a foundation. He can lift us up and put a firm foundation in place for us to stand.
He has brought you with the ultimate price of His Son...You don't have to prove your worth to Him. He loves you and sees EXACTLY who you can become!!!