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!”
