What A Doll!

My dolls are a mess!  While looking through the toys that I had at my office, I had to have a come to Jesus meeting with my dolls.  We have been together for the last four years – give or a take a few years for the newest members of the collection.  When my move to a new facility was imminent, I decided to try to create order of the chaos that was my toy inventory.  My dolls moved to the top of my priority list.

I’m all about categorization.  There is a place for everything, and everything has a place.  The primary home for my dolls was in a basket with lots of vehicles.  Fire trucks, cars, tow trucks.  You get the picture.  Why did they live in the basket with the vehicles?  Good question.  I needed more baskets and never got around to it.  And my kids adapted to my mixed basket.  When it was time to clean up, they automatically placed the dolls in the basket with the vehicles.  The illogical had become logical to them.

Needless to say, there were several issues with this system.  One is that my dolls took a beating.  While girls would play with the vehicles, boys requested play with the vehicles more frequently.  Do you think those sweet little boys lovingly placed the dolls to the side?  Absolutely not.  Quite often they threw the dolls out of the basket as quickly as they could to get to what they really desired.  Those little dolls got banged up and dirty.

Being in the same basket with the vehicles also did a number on their hair.  Gone were the sleek strands.  In their place is a matted mess that is impossible to comb through.  Over time, their hair was been caught in wheels and slammed in car doors.  My little friends would rip the dolls away from any vehicle.  Sometimes the ripping ripped their little hair as well.  I Googled ways to restore a doll’s hair, and it is possible.  But it takes lots of time and careful attention.

What if I had put the dolls in their proper place when I first obtained them?  Inevitably they would have experienced wear and tear.  That’s just part of being a toy.  But I’m quite sure that they wouldn’t be as battered.  They would not be as abused.  They wouldn’t be such a mess.

What a powerful reminder to me that I need to stay in my place.  I need to be exactly where God called me to be.  I need to be doing the work that He called me to do.  Being in someone else’s basket can really cause me to be beat up.  It will do a number on me. 

I can’t get mad at people who toss me to the side when I’m in the wrong place.  They didn’t come there looking for me.  They knew exactly what they wanted, and I wasn’t it.  However, I can get mad at myself for not checking my surroundings.  I can be mad at myself for not recognizing who I am and my purpose.  Just because others have adapted to me being out of position doesn’t mean that I should.

My poor dolls.  I’m almost embarrassed to let them out of my house.  And at the same time, I’m reluctant to do the work to get them into better shape.  Much like my own life.  (Let’s not talk about my healthy lifestyle journey….at least not today.)  It’s necessary.  But not convenient.  Important.  But often placed at the bottom of the list.

Thankfully, my dolls have their own basket now.  They still look like what they’ve been through.  I just decided to put in the work to get them as close to their original condition as possible.  They don’t have to be perfect, but I know they can be better.  So can I.  #wepreach