04/21/2026
This week, I’ve really been focusing on the tension of perishable and imperishable.
It’s easy to design extravagantly.
It’s easy to see with our eyes only.
Several women in our “design MAGNIFIED” community have felt that same tension. Our souls keeping materialism at an arms length distance. It’s a real thing. See, want, desire and it gives birth to repetition that’s never satisfied.
Our eyes see and recognize good design, first because God shows us in His creation, and second, it can be felt because we live in this paradigm called earth and God made it to sustain life. It’s everything we see and take in subconsciously—we know when we step outside and “feel” nature. And it points to its Maker.
There is something that happens in the action of design and creativity. It’s not something that happens “during” it happens “in” the process. We choose to abide in something. Either our desires/temporary, or Him/eternal.
A mess of selections cohesively and thoughtfully click together. A list becomes puzzle pieces with no box lid, click, click, click. Up close you see one item at a time, take a step back and you find a bigger picture has taken shape before your eyes! We either say “look what I did” or “look what our Dad taught us to do!”
When we approach the puzzle with lust, agendas, a desire—there is an invisible seed that never settles. Its fruit is restlessness, it doesn’t bring peace to those involved in planning, it pushes because it’s in a hurry. It’s irritated because it’s hungry and searching for a satisfaction not meant for this life. Jesus is our bridge into freedom and eternity.
When we approach design from a sense of abiding as a result our spaces “feel” like nature. Why? Because all of creation points to its Maker. If I design so you can glorify the work of my hands, I may get a lot more praise, but when God is the center, through: prayer, worship, love, and servanthood—you won’t see Lintels & Lallies. Like our name, we disappear like hidden architecture supports, supporting the Doorway, and the column that connects to the Firm Foundation of Christ.
Apart from God we are just picking “stuff.” And that stuff might look great. But the only way to design with soul is to do it with God. Prayerfully. Spherically. And in love.
When God is in the process, we aren’t just gathering pretty things. We are selecting with intention and service. Where there is love for those around us, what we build with our hands somehow has these eternal properties “inside” them.
Do I do this perfectly? No. Nobody can. But it is “practiced.” And we get wiser as time goes on and God continues to meet L&L in this!
Creation, beauty, balance and harmony, all teem like a pulse and that heartbeat has life because it houses trust and relationship.
Our clients trust us, and we trust God. We begin in worship and His word. We pray over the people we serve. We bless their home. And somehow the process is easy.
I don’t labor in design. God meets me in the selection process and those puzzle pieces aren’t confusion they are clarity. There’s a surrender in the process of abiding.
And much like the spaces we design, God is doing something inside each of us too. We can strive to look great on the outside but the inside of our heart and the words that flow from it can be selfish, unwise, and unkind. That’s the fruit of a selfish heart and home.
I pray this morning whatever design dilemma you face that He be in it and through it. That you aren’t beating the air.
And if you find you need help, you reach out and we can serve you in this process.
God Bless you today may your homes be rooted in Him, and bear fruit that’s not just beautiful, but filled with His joy, peace, love, and hospitality.
