Last week I re-arranged our living room furniture. Not really a new thing for me, but this time I didn't plan the re-arrange. It was brought on by a freak accident.

Last Tuesday, Chloe moved our coffee table out of the center of the room so she could practice karate. When she was putting the table back the leg got caught on our area rug and the silver tray on the table went sliding off. The over sized glass jar that was holding some shells and a small bird nest, along with a special tea pot that I was given at a women's retreat several years ago, flew off the tray and shattered into thousands of little glass pieces.

My initial reaction was to make sure Chloe hadn't been cut. She was physically okay, but she was very upset with herself for doing this. She ran upstairs in tears.
Emma and I were right behind her to offer a little love and assure her it was okay!

I let the girls pick out a movie to watch in the loft while I headed back downstairs to clean up the mess.

I started with the big pieces...they were easy to see and get to. Then I started on the smaller pieces. They blended in with the carpet and were harder to see not to mention pick up.

After working for about an hour I wound up moving the area run to make sure I had picked up all the little pieces around the edges. That prompted me to move the entire area rug so I could vacuum under it...then I got the bright idea that I wanted to move the rug to the dining room and totally redo the living room.

The girls got in on the fun and we pushed, pulled tugged and towed the furniture around until we found a "new" look. The hard work was worth it and I'm very happy with the new look in our living room.

God reminded me later in the week that sometimes a life-shattering event can bring about much needed change. Sometimes He uses what we view as a catastrophe to remove the old stuff we've become accustomed to. You know, the junk we hang on to because at one point we thought we couldn't live without it!

The process may be intense and at times hurt, but. The long term benefits are far more valuable than the things we think we've lost. When God takes away that old junk, He replaces it with things like love, joy, peace, patience kindness...self-control.

I'm thankful Chloe broke that glass jar. I'm thankful it forced me to focus on the living room for a LONG TIME last Tuesday afternoon.

God used it to remind me that the glass shattering thing going on in my life right now can be used for His glory. It may be a little while before we get done, but the clean out is going to be a good thing.