Refinished and Refurbished

I love to refinish furniture, more often than not, choosing to paint it in the process these days. This is much to the chagrin of my sweet husband who loves the look of wood grain. While I do too, I’ve been in a season of painting EVERYTHING with my eye on other household treasures that Bri has requested I leave in their natural beauty. Ahhh….the things we sacrifice for marital harmony…

This morning, I’ve been painting a small end table and it got me to thinking. You see, I discovered this discarded piece of furniture at Goodwill where someone had obviously donated it. They had no use for it, saw no beauty in it and got rid of it. On the other hand, all I could do was look at it, seeing past its imperfections, to its beautiful lines and fine details, envisioning it in its restored beauty, rather than in its current condition. Isn’t that how God sees us and how He calls us to envision one another?

How often do we see ourselves and others as imperfect, honing in on all of the things that we deem to be “wrong” or “bad?” Bri will often say to me, “I wish you could see yourself the way I do.” To which I reply, “And I wish YOU could see YOURSELF the way I see YOU…” Yet, as much as I know Bri and I see so much more in each other than we see in ourselves, I know that God sees WAY beyond that. He looks past our imperfections, our sinful, selfish natures, our woundedness, our “ugliness,” and all He sees is what we are through the Master Craftsman’s refurbishing touch.

Do you know that the definition of “refurbish” is “to bring something back to a cleaner, brighter, or more functional state”? That makes me think of Isaiah 1:18, which says, "'Come now, let's settle this,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.'" Although stained with imperfections, pain, anger, unforgiveness, hurt and more, He washes us clean through the power of His love and forgiveness, refurbishing our spirits and souls, bringing out the natural beauty within that we were originally crafted as having.

That’s exactly what happens when furniture is refinished. It’s brought back to a cleaner, brighter, more functional state and the things that were seen as ugly or imperfect are made new under the hands of a craftsman (or at least an amateur DIYer). Admittedly, the process of refinishing a piece of furniture takes time, hard work and multiple steps. It’s never done quickly. As much as I would like to hurry the process because I like the end product and want to get to that as fast as I can, it won’t turn out nearly as well if I rush through it. Most of us like the idea of shortcuts and skipping steps, but ultimately, it costs us in the end. 

If we skip steps, like sanding or priming, when refinishing furniture, we may find ourselves back at square one, starting the process all over again, taking the time to do what we should have done in the first place so that what we create will have lasting beauty. Sometimes, too, we get to the point where we don’t want to go that one final step, put on that third coat of paint that’s really NEEDED….it would be so nice to just be done…Yet, if you stop there, you’ll likely always look at it with regret, wishing you’d just put in the extra effort to make it all that it truly could be.

God’s refurbishing in our lives is a process - one with multiple steps that takes time and sometimes requires stripping bare so that the natural, “wood grain beauty” can be coaxed back out in the process. We all get tattered by life and it becomes so easy to see ourselves or others as lacking beauty, value, and worth. That’s not the time to relegate to the discard pile. It’s the time to invest in bringing newness back to that which is tired, worn out and even a bit beaten up. We need to take the time to go through the process and allow others the same grace and opportunity. We are each treasures called to a “cleaner, brighter, more functional state.” There is such beauty in each of us and I can imagine our Father looking on us with excitement and anticipation, exclaiming, “Look at those lines! The curves are so beautiful! What fine details! The beauty I behold captivates me!”