Five Minute Friday: "Design"

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Intelligent Design

Design on a Dime (I miss that show)

Divine Design (I miss that show too)

Deserving Design (Ditto)

I used to love to watch design shows (as mentioned above) back when HGTV was worth watching... well and PBS too.  I would see these awesome artists take some of the most butt-ugly houses or yards and make absolute masterpieces out of them--some on a huge budget, some on a shoestring.

I'm in the process of decorating my apartment (have been since I moved here more than 3 years ago).  The space and rules of apartment living put a few limits on what I can do. My monetary budget is small, but my creative budget is abundant.  I don't have fancy designers to get advice from, but I do have Pinterest, YouTube, and Southern Living magazine.  My studies are almost over, so soon I'll have my evenings and weekends back to dive into creativity with both feet and finish this thing.

But what of my most important design project?  How do I design my life around God's plan for me?  His budget is endless and His loving creativity knows no bounds, but what about my own limits?  I saw an article from Forbes that gave five steps to designing the life you love.  I believe the Word has its own spin on these steps:

1. Design in small doses.  In Matthew 25:14-30, three stewards were given small sums of money to invest for their employer.  Those who did well were given more to tend to.  I believe that as we trust God by following His design for our lives, we are given even more to work with.
   
   
2. Emulate your heroes.  In I Corinthians 11:1, the apostle Paul instructed the church to follow him as he followed Christ.  This holds true in any area of life.  If you hero in the faith is building a life that follows Christ's example, take cues and learn from from him or her.  If not, move on.
   
   
3. Rescript self limiting beliefs.  "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]" (Romans 12:2 AMP).
   
   
4. Blend need-want tensions. "Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4 KJV).
   
   
5. Let design values underpin your dreams. This step is really a blending of the other four. If you value what God values, His dream and your dream will match.  If not, it's up to you to allow Him to change your dream.  Trust me, His is better.

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