“‘I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 30:17)
“Come to me and I will give you rest” (Mathew 11:28)
Thick dust covered the hand-hewn ridges along the sides of the cupboard. Just an old junky looking piece of furniture. Nothing fancy, simply storage on the bottom and three old wooden shelves on top behind glass doors. Flimsy, warped plywood barely held the back together.
A worthless antique, yet priceless to me. My dad’s grandfather handcrafted this cherry cabinet for his bride when they married in the 1800’s. It was created with functionality to hold their dishes and linens. When we moved it from my folks’ home to ours, a big chunk of molding was missing from the front and the hardware needed replacing, too. I was reluctant to give the job of restoration to just anyone. Finally we found someone, in whom we had confidence, to refinish it.
The capenter was amazed at the incredible work on the original cabinet, and how my great-grandfather had handmade the beautiful grooves. Such detail! How painstakingly he must have worked on this, carving row after row of fine ridges. And obviously, with such love.
I thought of how this cupboard resembles each of us. The Lord, with great love and amazing detail, created us. There are times we need a touch-up, some restoration…..and who better than the original carpenter to go to for this? There are many ways and many places that offer restoration for us and for our souls, however it is best to go right to the top. As a friend of mine says, “There is only one of you. So take good care of yourself”. And God is good at shabby to chic.
Fortunately there is One we can trust for the outcome…. Every time, our heavenly Father.
That is good news.
Inspirational messages by Sally I. Kennedy
Sally I. Kennedy, ©2012
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