shutter removal

this weekend i removed the shutters from the windows above my kitchen sink.

unscrewed the hinges and yanked those suckers right out of there.
bingo-bango. now banned to the basement storage room.
i've got a little patching and touch up painting to do, but, immediately, i knew i liked the result of my removal.

who knew all this sunshine and greenery (and flower boxes) was hiding behind those heavy shutters.


sometimes, home -- and self -- improvement happens when we add things. and sometimes, when we take things away.

this little kitchen window project, it got me thinking about the heavy shutters in my own life.
the things which get in the way and even block out God's goodness.
where do i need to scale down, cut back, or, yes, even flat out remove?

what is it that keeps me too busy or too blind to see the sunshine and greenery God's got waiting for me?

what do i need to take out of my days in order to take in more of His design?

"now i will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away." ~ nahum 1:13

this verse might seem a little intense for a blog post about shutter removal -- all that breaking and tearing away and all. (you wouldn't think so if you saw me perched over my sink this weekend with a screwdriver and crowbar. never pretty).
i realize nahum is prophetically writing about the destruction of the wicked city, nineveh, not kitchen design.
and, surely, we aren't in need of an overhaul like nineveh.
surely, what distracts and shutters and shackles us is not THAT bad.

maybe the stuff in our lives doesn't look like wicked-city stuff. it's probably a lot prettier, softer, more subtle. but let's make no mistake, ANYTHING which keep us from God and His goodness is something we probably need to put on our demo list.

the shutters weren't so bad. and some people would suggest i now need to hurry-up-quick and do something else on that big, wide open window ... maybe or maybe not. not sure yet.

shutters and window treatments and, even sunshine, are all items of opinion and personal taste. but what God has waiting for us on the other side of our removals ... well, regardless of our decorating bend, that is always something beautiful.