LUXURY VINYL

My least favorite word used to be asphalt. Recently, that word has been replaced.

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I have a confession. I’ve been rushing things a little. In my eagerness to see certain dreams materialize, I’ve come to the realization that perhaps I am allowing myself to see things as I want them to be, instead of how they are.

As someone who has spent their entire life reimagining other people’s lives, I have camped in the land of possibility for so long that I’ve begun to see everything as malleable.

But over the past few weeks, I’ve come to understand, that in some cases, the inherent quality or character cannot be changed.

Consider “Luxury Vinyl.” The thing is, and I mean this not to dismiss or malign, there is decidedly nothing “luxury” about it. As a designer I understand its place in our lives. But going into that with any detail would be missing the point…entirely.

My objection is the combining of it [vinyl] with a word reserved for superior contexts—like supple well-loved leather, proper fitting slippers, a leisurely stroll down a country road in the rain.

We have become so very good at misappropriating words. In doing so, we have played a kind of trick on others and ourselves—overriding what we know to be true, agreeing in our misguided hopefulness to shift our core belief.

French Journalist, Bernard Pivot, was known for an interviewing style that demanded his subjects examine everything. Even themselves. My favorite amongst his famous ten questions [like, “What sound or noise do you hate?”] has always been, “What is your least favorite word or phrase?”

 “Asphalt,” without question, was my immediate reply—Not only because of the sound of the word itself [which would also serve as the answer to ‘what sound or noise do you hate.’] but because of the sticky, gooey smell of it—the unsightly black tar covering what was once pasture of green grass where roaming cattle grazed.

If I was asked today, my answer without question would be, Luxury. Vinyl. Flooring.

What has triggered all of this is my immersion in a quest to uncover our next home. Despite my keen ability to vision a new reality for properties that are “not my style,” I have recently come to value, in equal measure, the critical necessity not to embellish to make something into something it is not, or pretend it is something greater than it is—

When’s the last time you shared of some incident, making it sound better than it was?

When did we settle for something “not quite right” because we failed to believe the “best” thing was just ahead?

Luxury Vinyl—

There is an oxy-moron in all of us who repackages mediocrity and then sells it to ourselves. When allowed to run rampant, it makes us begin to believe our own “big fish “stories we tell.

This pretending we do. No one is fooled.

In this compelling season of questioning the authenticity of everything, isn’t the most necessary thing to be absolutely genuine in all that we do and are?

Ask yourself these questions—

What do I really want? Refuse to people please.

What am I genuinely capable of creating? Recognize your inherent gifts.

What possibilities actually exist? Harness the wishful thinking.

What do I already possess to realistically make a change? Take stock of the resources you have.

NOTES:

Over the past two months, Ron and I have experienced a “let down” of grand proportions. What we thought was God’s plan for our next season has taken a turn. As with any disappoint, we have determined to look for the good.

My takeaway?

Be willing to admit that sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, of Him.

Do I believe big dreams are essential? Absolutely, with all my heart.

But those dreams must come with a healthy measure of realism, a willingness to see the situation for exactly what it is.

In the end, God decided. I can’t imagine my life lived any other way. That is, being willing to pour your whole self into something. Then to give it to Him.

He is the author of truth. His wisdom needs no hyperbole.

When I add all the adjectives at the front of the sentence to “convince myself”,

He gently coaxes me to simplify and redirect…

Until the “What if” in my life, becomes a solid, undeniable, “What is.”

ABOUT THE IMAGE~I couldn’t imagine posting a picture of flooring, so I’m sharing this beautiful image of cattle instead. Esoteric? Perhaps. But the meaning isn’t lost on me. Luxury is not something created for our convenience. It is a pasture of green grass where the cattle graze. Real “luxury” is natural, rare and unduplicable, not something purchased but something lived.