1) We wanted to not have to pay for a new table.
2) We were getting close to the 20 000 lbs limit for our move to Winnipeg coming up and I didn't want to make my table with things that we didn't already have, so as to increase the weight of our belongings.
3) I saw a broken fence close to where we live and wanted to give it an extended life rather than know that it went to a landfill. Yuck.
So that was the challenge. I have been compelled to write about it because I have seen Jesus (figuratively) in this table over and over again as I continue to labor at it. I saw it in just the fact that he was likely a carpenter and here I am, a housewife, getting closer to knowing Jesus by doing some of the things he may have done with wood.
I saw Jesus as I looked at the rough dirty boards leaning against my fence being transformed into a new being, a sanded table for a family to use. In the Bible in 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says
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I saw myself in the boards that way. I am a new creation. The dirt has been washed away and I am in the process of being sanded into something more and more beautiful each day. In that I also saw myself. In some of the pictures I put on my facebook page (I hope to also have on here for you to see) I got frustrated with the table tonight. I just couldn't get the table to do what I wanted it to do. I have a vision for it, a vision of usefulness and beauty and I felt that it wasn't working with me. How many times do I do that with God.
That's the point where I didn't see God in the table. I, the human that I am, walked away from the table. I needed to get it out of my sight and forget about it. I was contemplating giving up, despite all the work I put into it.... God NEVER does this. He is always there. ALWAYS gently guiding, although sometimes the sander hurts it is always for his final vision of beauty.
I love this table.
