I like to make tables. Not fancy tables. Just ordinary tables. Sometimes my tables break, which is why the bedside table I once made is now a footstool.
For these last few months, I have felt like my broken bedside table. A massive life-change struck me, unbidden and unwelcome. Fortunately, I’ve seen many of you go through similarly hard life changes with grace—yes, I’ve been watching—and that has helped steady me.
But back to the table…I had options. I could have done nothing with my broken table. The table top would have still been a table top. The three good legs would have still been legs. The only problem is, the table would have been unstable and unusable and stored out of sight in my garage.
Or I could have thrown the table out. A lot of people would have. But the table top (let’s say my work) and the three legs (let’s say my relationships) still have value to me.
Even though I preferred my bedside table the way it was, I had to repurpose it or lose it completely. In the same way, I’ve had to give, and keep on giving, the broken pieces of my life to God for repair and repurposing. He values them more than I do. I believe he can help me to forgive, learn new skills, understand, grow, and even someday flourish again. I will let him reshape me—painfully now, possibly joyfully later. I will renew relationships where that’s possible, and put energy and wholeheartedness into the new direction life has taken.
The footstool now sits in my living room. I use it every day. I rest my feet on it. I put drinks on it. It’s the perfect size for an h’orderve tray. It holds my Bible and journal. If I have people over, it doubles a seat. It will never be what it was. But it’s taken on a life I never imagined for it. And that is what I am believing for me. And possibly for you too.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:1-6 NIV).
Make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).