I picked up the above ceramic owl light at an Etcetera thrift store a few months ago. It was quite a find. Inside was a little red light bulb that made the glass eyes and belly holes glow a startling red. The color...I hadn't seen it since changing the last breastfed baby diaper. It didn't match my taste at all, but I thought it would look great spray painted white.

My first attempt at painting it caused the dried spray paint to blister and crack, even though I had primed it first. I think the humidity outside and then the quick transition into the dry cool house was the cause. Eventually all the paint flaked off. 

My second attempt worked and the result (aside from a few drippy spots) was fine. A white smooth satin finish with a new lightbulb inside, it sits on the desk in my guest room ready to serve as a night light for visitors.

Isn't this just how God works? He chooses us in our ugly state, yet seeing the possibility begins his work of purifying and transforming us so that we might become beautiful and shine for him.