Paint It Purple

Let Cherese's spontaneous mantle project remind you of the power you have to make some paint color choices in your life. Instead of asking if it will be ok, maybe ask what color you want it to be. Bring an open mind, your favorite color palate, and listen in.

Hey, friends, this is Cherese Lee and you're listening to the Just Waiting for You Podcast. Whether the sun is shining where you are in life today or you're walking through a crappy storm and you really wish you got some rain boots. The power of a story is sometimes all you need for that perspective shift. Hang out with us for a few minutes and find out what happens when you realize that someone is just waiting for you.

It's a story. It's just a story. A friend was dropping something off to me recently and she came to the door and started to hand whatever it was to me (I honestly can't remember now) and she said her niceties. She's one of those people that just like exudes joy and happiness and it was fun to see her, even for a split second.

And I said, “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you go, do you have a minute to come inside? I want to show you something”. And she was like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, what's going on?” And I said, “Well, last week I had some painters at the house working on a project for me, and I asked them if they had time to paint the mantle for me before they left”.

“And so, we just threw that on last minute. I went and got some paint and brought it back to them, and I want you to come in and see it. I painted it purple”. And she was like, “you-you what?” I said, “we painted the mantle purple!” “In your main room?” “Yup, in the main room. Come on in and see it”.

So, she walks in, and she just starts laughing. At first, I was like, “Ooh, looks that bad?” And she said, “Oh, I love that. Now there is someone who has been through some shit. That's who paints a mantle purple in a split-second decision”. And I had never thought of it like that before. But yeah, she hit the purple mantle right on the head. Right?

People have said to me over the years (and you may have heard me say this before) that, “Oh, I'm I'm not realistic. You know, I just see the world through rose-colored glasses”. And that's why things like my mantle are purple, right? Because of this perfect life. And it's actually the opposite.

So, I've been in some valleys. I've had those seasons that I just thought I couldn't breathe, and I came out on the other side, and I choose to paint my mantle purple because I've been down in the really crappy-looking valleys. That's who paints their mantle purple, right? It reminded me, too, I put a box on my Instagram story recently and I asked people to tell me “if I could talk to you for 10 minutes and say something helpful. What would it be?”

And I would say about 90% of the people answered in the same way. They said, “You could tell me that it's going to be okay”. And I was so sad when I read that (for a lot of reasons, obviously). First of all, that so many people are feeling that way. Sadly, I wasn't surprised. Look around.

We're all just kind of trying to bounce. But also, because I knew in my heart that whether I had 10 minutes or ten weeks, I could not tell any of these friends that it was going to be okay. The first reason I can't do that is because I don't know what your it is. I think we blanket it so much. Right?

Like, is it all going to work out? Is it all going to be, okay? Well, what is your it and who decided that that was the end all be all? Who decided that that was the ruler of everything in your life right now? You know, not one thing is ever the end of the world, right? So, which are it?

Who decided? Listen, I may not be able to tell you that it's all going to be okay. But here's what I can tell you. I can tell you that life is a series of seasons, and I can tell you that they're all going to pass. The bad news is there are some really great seasons and they're going to pass too.

The good news is the rough ones that seem like they're never going to end. Yeah, those are going to pass. And you can spend them in the valley. You can climb up the hill. It doesn't matter. Time will march on, one way or another. You get to choose where you are for the passage of time. I can also tell you that showing up and just simply saying, “Yep, I'm here, I'm here for it all”. That will change everything.

Why? Well, first of all, you start to feel like you get a little bit of control back. Am I right? I definitely was the one in control at the paint store when I chose purple. Maybe that was part of it, but also because if you show up, even when it's crap, I can tell you that other people will show up too.

It's almost like they come out of the woodwork. They're exactly the people you need, when you need them, where you need them. And if you don't show up, well, you never get that free grace. I can also tell you that if it feels like nothing is okay right now, the good news is you're not doing it wrong, right?

I mean, there's no recipe for how to make this perfect life. I think we're sold a lie so many times in life that if you go to the right church, if you get the right education, if you say the right prayers, if you get the right job or find the right partner, that then all of a sudden you get this really great life and that if it's kind of shit for a minute, that you did something wrong. It turns out, no, this isn't a bad life, it's just a really human one.

And it's going to go up and down. And I really wish someone would have told you that instead. Basically, what I'm trying to say is our stories, our lives, they are fire. They are. We get to decide what color we paint them. Now, that doesn't mean we're painting over them or pretending that they're perfect. It means that we're showing up.

We know it's not exactly how we want it to be. And yet we also know that that doesn't mean that we can't have it be the most beautiful and brilliant purple in the room. I could have burned it all down (so many times in so many seasons) but instead I decided to paint it purple. What are you burning down right now?

What do you think will never be okay? What is your it? Can you hold it? Can you look at it? Can you decide what color you want to make it? I would suggest maybe ya paint a purple.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you allow yourself to feel the things today and then have the courage to ask, “But what if it looks like this?”

Go forth and show up for life my friends. Someone is just waiting for you.