Rev. Doug Meyer thinks about his personal restoration compared to restoring furniture:
A number of years ago I decided to tackle restoring an old piece of furniture. It was your basic 100 year old chest of drawers.
It was nothing fancy: a heavy oak dresser, 4 drawers, straight clean lines, covered with multiple layers of paint.
How hard could it be?
After a waltz around the paint aisles at Home Depot, I came upon the recommended toxic chemical used for stripping furniture. The basic directions were to coat the section with the toxic caustic chemical.
Wear heavy duty gloves. Do not get on your skin. Use in a well-ventilated room. What could go wrong?
The weeks that followed were a mix of apprehension, excitement, and the occasional chemical burn. The work was rewarding, but tedious. Lifting multiple layers of paint required multiple layers of chemicals.
After each chemical coating I would scrap off the paint, then go after the wood with heavy duty steel wool. Eventually I got down to the original wood, discovering beautiful oak. The sides and the front were in really good shape but the top was another story.
Removing paint from the top revealed multiple scratches, a burn mark, and even someone’s initials carved deeply into the wood.
As I sanded, and eventually finished the project, I couldn’t help but imagine the story behind the chest.
What was its history? Where did it come from? In how many different homes did it offer space to store clothes or linens?
Was the burn mark caused by a candle left unattended or a cigarette? Who did the initials A. J. belong to?
Over my years, I have undertaken a number of different efforts at personal restoration. The process is not that much different than restoring this old trunk.
I had to find the best method for removing the old layers.
Most of the time the work required multiple tries, a lot of scraping and sanding with heavy grit sand paper.
Once removed, I too reveal a number of scratches and scars, a surface burn, and invisible carvings. After all the work I find that I can still serve a pretty good purpose.
The act of restoration starts with removing the shiny paint to reveal our raw, true selves. Think about the scratches and scars you've been trying to hide and pray about giving them to God so that the spiritual restoration can begin.