I've got a fascination with quaint and whimsical things. Their aesthetic components captivate me and my curiosity and imagination are just let loose.
It's made especially easy when you visit places like East Neuk in Fife. Brightly coloured houses in shades of pink, beige and blue, old doors and windows all have their appeal.
I call it curb appeal.
Curb Appeal
I see that appeal through the old, the weather beaten, the rusty and the peeling paint textures. For me worn, flawed surfaces have a story to tell. They show the stresses and effects that our world has had on them through a life time of experience. I suppose I could say that about people too and their imperfections.
Personalising
Do you think doors and window tell you something about the people who live behind them?
As I strolled through Pittenweem I noticed that many people seemed to share a little of their individuality. Whether it was through what they placed inside on their windowsills or how they decorated the outside of their homes. It felt like they were reflecting their personality without revealing their whole self as only a key can unlock their whole self.
A Doorway to the Heart
I was particularly struck by this image of a door left ajar a little with a key still left in the lock. My artistic license changed the label on the keyring to what I felt it represented to me.
Then another doorway grabbed my attention. There are only about 4 or 5 metres between that door and the waves when the tide is in. I'm sure many times the sea surges in winter hit that door when the waves get rough. But just look a little deeper into the frame. Behind that door lies a beautiful garden that's protected from all that weather related adversity. As a result the plants thrive because of the shelter from the doorway and boundary wall.
So with that in mind let me illustrate what I'm really thinking...
Sometimes behind a doorway there's a garden paradise just waiting to be explored. But not every one is given the key to explore that paradise. The only key that can open that door is trust. You just have to make sure that you give that key to someone who treats the key as being precious. They have to prove that they deserve that key in the first place. Any other key won't fit if respect and trust are missing.
Meanwhile in their imagination that garden sounded like it was a paradise. But once that key opens the door every flaw is revealed. It's not a perfect paradise after all. However because there's total trust and honesty there's the freedom to express who you really are in that garden.
But you know something ...that's not all the story. Ultimately it's the love of God that covers our multitude of imperfections. It's Him we have to trust in. But He doesn't want to leave us with those imperfections. He wants us to discover the ability to live life in that garden the way He is now living life. But if you want to live life in that garden you've got to practice it as practice makes permanent.
