On the first day of the New Year I find myself sanding and painting two bedside tables. This was not my idea. We got them years ago at a church rummage sale, and they were old and beat up then. Maybe just call Amazon. But Pam suggested we simply paint the tops, and the two shelves beneath. Gray. Leave the dark walnut legs and sides.
As I sand the water-stained wood, the old varnish vanishes in patches. It has to look worse before it looks better. I wipe down the legs with some old Formby’s wood restorer I have in the garage. The walnut legs don’t shine, like new. They glow, like old. Then I paint the top and the two shelves with an oil-based paint that can penetrate the wood, stripped raw from sanding. Oil paint smells serious to me, smells like restoration, like forever.
A new year inevitably calls us to renewal, taking things that aren’t working—or working well—and putting them right. Our first impulse, like mine with the two old tables, is usually to get rid of what’s not working. Get a new one. But for the most important things in life, that’s not usually an option. Despite the promise of advertisements, you can’t get a new body. You have to accept and renew the one you have. You can’t get a new backstory and history, you have to own the one you’ve carried since birth. You can’t get new children, new brothers and sisters, new mothers, new fathers. You have to find a new way to love the ones you’ve been given. Except in the extreme, you can’t get a new husband, a new wife. You have to pray for new eyes.
God promises, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). That’s not a guarantee of replacement, but a pledge of renewal. God can do this because God is love, and the only way worn-out things can be saved is to be loved into a new, transfigured life. Whatever you seek to change right now, pour on it all the love you can muster.
What a great New Year’s message David. As I try to drop 20 lbs (God I love egg nog) it is a great reminder that to see things through a “new pair of glasses” sometimes means getting down and dirty and doing my part to refurbish what is most important to me. I have run with the best of them, but this year I resolve to get out my sander and try renewal first.
Yes, get out your sander and do it with great love!
Love this New Year’s message David…thanks!!!
I really enjoyed this post David. It is so true. Thanks for uplifting me
Tony
And you uplift me.
You can’t find character in brand new things, usually – great job on the character-fun tables. Peace, Johnna
Thanks, Johnna
What a lovely New Year message, David. As a child of a depression era young widow, we were taught to value and repurpose old things, be it objects, clothing or even food (left-overs recreated!). But the message of loving the one’s we’ve been given and seeing things through new glasses is an extremely strong one, especially after the togetherness of the holidays. Thanks for extending your Advent reflections into the new year.
“Especially after the togetherness of the holidays”–you’re right there, sister!
Mom would love this one David. She didn’t buy new She was a renewer.
Yes–her spirit certainly lives in me, and shines through in this piece.
You got me on the right day. Funny how you do that. Happy New Year.
Hey Dave–Happy New Year to you–keep pouring on the love–that’s what you do so well.
What a great reminder to us in the new year. Cherish and renew what we have and “glow like old”!