Restoration vs Spiritual Upcycling

I’m in the midst of moving house and renovating, which means that I have been thrown into the world of paint colours. The colours in today’s shops are all Moody and Dark and above all – GREY. I cannot get excited about 10 different variations of what essentially is the colour of an angry sky when it’s about to soak you within an inch of your life, but it seems that interior designers are thrilled.

As a result, natural wood is out, and up-cycled furniture (i.e. painted with chalky rose blush paint that shows all the dust) is in. I’m as much of a fan of shabby chic as the next person, but I admire more those who can do the opposite.

Restoration is an art. Anyone can paint over something with fashionable paint to hide the imperfections. But it takes an artist who can chip off the old paint, sand and varnish so that the essence of the furniture is revealed once more, not as old and tired, but fresh and beautiful, as it was meant to be.

You know where I’m going with this. We want to spiritually upcycle ourselves so we fit in and look good. We talk of God as restoring things to us, and it’s an abstract concept. But I like to see Jesus, who was a carpenter on earth, gently removing the ways we disguise ourselves, smoothing and soothing our dents and hurts from the world. With natural wood, even the oddities and imperfect quirks are shown to be beautiful. Christ the restorer, the artist, works to reveal the people we were meant to be.

It’s a process that will only be complete in heaven, and as the one being restored you can often only sense the sandpaper and chipping as a painful process. But my prayer is that others, looking on at my life, will see a glimpse of that person I was created to be, without shame. And in the areas more polished, I hope they see the reflection of the Restorer.

#fiveminutedevotion

Tweetables: 

Over to you:

• To what extent do you find this image of God as carpenter speaks to you?
• When have you had glimpses that God is at work in your life, to bring out your true nature or heal you from the dents of the world?

Joining with #fiveminutefriday. This was my best five minutes on Restore.

Those Who Wait – Finding God in Disappointment, Doubt and Delay. For anyone who feels like they’re living life stuck on hold, tired of waiting.

“This is a gentle book full of humanity, biblical integrity and unexpected humour.” – Pete Greig, founder of 24:7 Prayer Movement. 

“Tanya Marlow’s words sent me both to my journal and to my knees…Those Who Wait is such a beautiful invitation to connect with our longing, our hope, our honesty and the God who meets us in the waiting.”  – Idelette McVicker, Founder of SheLovesMagazine.com

Buy from: 10ofThose £7.49,  Eden UK £9.99, Wordery £9.08 (free worldwide delivery), Amazon.co.uk Kindle £5.99, Amazon.com Kindle $5.99.

(My apologies to regular blog readers – my limited energy is being entirely consumed with choosing bathroom suites and researching cooker hoods as we prepare to move house and organise a renovation! Hopefully, I will be able to get into a better rhythm in Aug/Sep but in the meantime please bear with me as my writing is more erratically timed…)

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