Round Top/Warrenton Fields before and after Antiques Week
A few weeks ago I told you I spent a day with the kids tootling around the Round Top area…when antiques week wasn’t happening. I wanted to see what the fields looked like in the off season. BEFORE all the hustle and bustle begins.
It was hard for me to imagine what this sleepy little town looked like the rest of the year. Which buildings are permanent? What tents and stores call Round Top home year round?
I took a good amount of before pictures and will fully admit in my two trips back I didn’t take enough after pictures! I was too side tracked shopping and having fun.
It’s safe to say that people love a good before and after story.
This before and after just screams HARD WORK to me. I am utterly amazed at the transformation these fields and tents make. As a seasoned Round Top vet when I walk through the numerous shops I can’t believe they haven’t been there for years and years. To me they look like decades of treasures carefully curated and meticulously placed.
I promise you would be fooled too. Nothing looks new, just popped up last weekish. It’s like someone playing a mind trick on me to see the before and afters. SO MUCH hard work goes into creating this genuinely authentic stroll through the past in fields upon fields upon stores upon tents.
You’d never know things were ever any different.
Can you even imagine the loading and unloading, the packing, the placing, the sweat and the love that goes into each and every venue to make this show what it is?
I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
When I shift my thoughts to this perspective it gives me such a great appreciation for the massive effort given by each vendor. And it makes me think twice about why things are priced the way they are some times. Because a lot of time and energy went into getting that trinket right where it is!
The truth is years of collecting and experience is what lends itself to the vendors at Round Top. They can come and go and make thinks look ageless, experienced and fabulous because they have worked hard, practiced and perfected their craft.
Have you ever come across women at church or perhaps bible study and think they have been Christians for years? Think they could never understand where you are now? Think they have never been where you have been? Think they have never been “new” to walking with Christ? You can’t imagine they ever lived a different life?
I have.
I can remember feeling the exact same way about women in my bible study as I do about these fields. I thought I could never be like them, know as much as them and certainly never have it as together as they could. In my mind, they had been at this whole walking with Jesus thing their whole charmed life.
But that wasn’t truth.
It wasn’t truth that their life was charmed, that they couldn’t understand, that I couldn’t have knowledge and that I could never walk in grace like they did.
When you get to know those women (that you might or might not be slightly intimidated by) and really hear their testimony you’ll see yourself in them. In ways you never thought you could.
That lady, who appears to have it all going on has been where you are in some way, shape or form.
It does take time. And hard work. And practice. Just like anything worthwhile does.
At some point we are all an empty field with not much to offer.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 3:8
Once we build life up on the foundation of Christ our field will become full. Full of grace, love and mercy. Full of knowledge. Full in a way people want to walk through and linger in.
Because that’s what God’s in the business of doing…flipping a field that’s empty and lacking to a field of redemption and beauty.
Can I encourage you today to unearth some before stories from the ladies you hold at an arm’s length? Can I encourage you to pray for wisdom and confidence in Christ?
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10: 35-36
Remember friend…a lot of hard work goes into anything good. It won’t always be easy, it won’t always feel charmed and it may not be quick, but in choosing to leave the rocky road you’re on and follow Christ, you will never be alone. And you will never be the same.
Just let the transformation of these fields inspire the fullness of His grace that is yours for the taking!
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You are a blessing! Thank you
🙂 thank you!
Beautiful – that visual is so perfect. What I also find comforting is that God is the same God in the field before as He is during the hustle and bustle, as He is during the quiet afterward. He is with us! Thank you for the Hebrews verse. I love the reference to confidence (in Christ). I needed that today.
As I started to read this post, I was excited to see the transformation of these fields from green grassy emptyness, to filled with the treasures my eye is always on the hunt for. And I love the hunt! As I read through the post, my heart warmed and my mind switched gears. It was no longer my hunger for all things old and antique that moved me forward in reading, but my hunger for all things Jesus. You have woven a beautiful tapestry here. Thank you for being a willing vessel for our Lord and guiding us all on this beautiful and sometimes difficult journey in this world. God is using you in a huge way! I thank you for your faithfulness. ❤ He is amazing! Blessings from your sister in Christ.
Linette – I am so happy you stopped by and even more thrilled the post spoke to you! Thank you for your encouragement, it means the world to me 🙂
I just started following your website a couple of weeks ago….and I am so Thankful that I did….so inspirational and uplifting….We all need to put Christ First in our daily lives and lift Him up daily to others…Thank You for doing that…Also now after seeing all these pictures…I must make a trip to Round Top…..haha Have a Blessed Day….
Ann – I’m so glad your following too. I hope what you read here continues to encourage you. I love hearing from you guys. I sometimes feel crazy, but God really does the talking here. It’s wonderful to know he speaks to you through me. I can’t even explain it really. I just appreciate you reaching out in encouragement! and YES – you have to put Round Top on your to do list!!!
Thanks for including a pic of my booth at Zapp Hall (the table with horns and architectural pieces) but I guess it was after I’d had a sale cause it was pretty messed up then.
Messed up??? It looks fabulous! We will have to chat in the Spring…love your booth!
What an impressive post!! Sometimes the things that are the most common, lend themselves to a wonderful parable!! Thank you for using the daily things to teach us such an amazing truth!!
Blessings to you,
J
PS: when you are next at a Zapp Hall show, check out the Red Neck Chic…she will make you welcome and you will enjoy her zaniness….. she is my daughter :^)
Hi Kim,
What a wonderful post. You are living to make Jesus visible in our lives through an outing in Round Top.
Blessings,
Martha in Houston
Thanks Martha, glad you enjoyed the post
What a blessing God gives you what you need when you need it need that this morning thank you
I love when that happens!
Kim,
I can’t express how refreshing it is to read your posts and encouragement. I love how Christ speaks through you in so many ways and we are able to use his Words in all areas of our everyday living. I look forward to your posts. It seems to always bring the right message at the right time in my life. May God continually bless you!
thank you so much. It just crazy that God would use me to speak to others. He really can and will use anyone willing. I have nothing to offer but he certainly goes. Thank you friend
Thank you so much for this inspirational post. In Christ we can have confidence! So true! He makes us complete, and fills the void (empty fields) that the world tries to fill. Your post blessed me this morning. I pray that God will continue to use you and bless you!
SO thankful it blessed you! I appreciate your sweet words and prayers! Thank you!
I appreciated reading your encouraging post. I have been married to an insecure, judgmental, easily frustrated & angry man for the past 22 years. I’ve been a Christian even longer. There are times that I think I can’t take any more of the heaviness of my situation and times that I rebelliously don’t want to. But then I remember marriages like Joyce Meyer’s. If her husband Dave had walked out when things were tough, millions of lives may never have been changed. Because Dave was able to be strengthened with renewed hope by the love of Jesus, Joyce was able to receive the healing power of it. And some day, my husband will be free from the chains that bind him and will share his testimony. I don’t want these years to have been wasted because I gave up before seeing my hope fulfilled.
yes, this is the definition of marriage, better or worse, unconditional love and at the end of the day this side of heaven or not you will be blessed for staying true to your vows even when it was tough. Stay strong and keep your eyes on the finish line