Pushed back behind the medicine bin, on a shelf in my kitchen cupboard, sits a square ceramic trivet. It is the first thing I ever painted.
When I look at the simple grapevine wreath design, made years ago in a tole painting class at my local hobby store, I have to smile. It smacks of crafty inexperience, but I was so proud of that thing! Our instructor had patiently shown us how to make gentle “S” strokes with a liner brush, and I was immediately captivated!
“Now, dip the wooden end of the brush into paint and dab on some baby’s breath,” she said. Like magic, my little trivet tile came to life.
Small beginnings.
I never would have dreamed that I would someday get to paint murals in multi-million dollar homes, or design theme rooms or be a professional artist. I simply thought I might like to learn how to make some Christmas gifts that year because money was tight. I painted up birdhouses and stools, tissue boxes and clocks. Dressers and plaques and hangers and lamps and clay pots. I gave away everything I made, then put the leftover things into a craft mall to sell. Oh, I lost money in the craft mall, but one day someone called me and asked if I could paint some flowers on a wall. It was the start of something bigger.
Whenever I see that trivet peeking out from behind the ibuprofen and cough drops, I’m reminded of a God who delights in surprising His children. Perhaps He chuckled as I signed up for my crafty class, knowing that He had so much more in store for me than I could ever know. As I picked up birdhouses and clay pots to decorate, He was behind the scenes, giving me the passion to learn and grow…and to enjoy a new skill I thought I’d found on my own. The trivet reminds me to trust in a faithful God who guides even my smallest steps.
How about you? Do you have a “trivet” in your life that causes you to remember God’s leading? Maybe it’s a brochure to a college, or a church flyer that you happened to pick up. It could be a napkin with a business idea scribbled on it, or a chance encounter with a stranger. He delights in small beginnings because He’s a big God who makes much out of little, and who leads us…even when we don’t know it until we look back later and see that His hand was there all along.
How has God led you?? Feel free to share your “trivets!”
Rachel Anne
