Feb
10
2015
The Chandelier
Posted in Salvation 2 Comments
My husband and I were engaged on Christmas Day in our last year of college.
We set our wedding date for that October.
That summer before our wedding we looked for apartments.
My soon-to-be-husband would live in it then, and I would join him after the wedding.
We needed to live in the place of Amish buggies and farmland.
He needed to be close to work.
We set out one Saturday and had our itinerary mapped out.
I loved the first apartment that we saw.
We have to look at all of them, he said very logically, we can’t pick the first one.
We continued looking all day, going from apartment to apartment.
Nothing compared to the first one.
We went back and signed the lease that afternoon.
A sofa was purchased.
He brought a bed frame and mattress that would suffice until I moved in later.
He had a small chest of drawers.
It definitely lacked a woman’s touch, but that would change soon enough.
We purchased our bedroom set that was to be delivered the week before our wedding.
My piano and my cedar chest were brought there as well.
Shower gifts and many of my mother’s kitchen things filled the cabinets.
It began to look like home and I couldn’t wait to move in.
After our honeymoon, we came back to our apartment.
HIS apartment became OUR apartment as soon as I moved in.
A new plant was beginning to start up in the company my husband worked for.
My engineer husband wanted to move so he could be part of the start-up team.
So ten months after I moved into our apartment, we were leaving.
We were moving into our first home.
Our first home.
A four-bedroom colonial in a neighborhood with a park down the street.
I remember the day we moved in.
My husband and I are a good team.
We work well together.
In a few days we were unpacked and settled in our new home.
There was some painting to do, but that was easy since only three rooms had furniture.
Every other room was empty, but it would soon be filled.
Two daughters would be born in that house in a short time.
Newly married with a home, there was not a lot of extra money to be had.
We slept on the dining room floor that first night with boxes to be unpacked tomorrow.
I looked up at a chandelier that was much too fancy for my taste.
I knew it was not in the budget to replace it, so I would have to live with it for a while.
As I looked at the light fixture, really looked, I noticed it.
Crystals filled the chandelier, but I noticed that a hook attached them.
I got up and fingered each one.
I simply had to remove the hook and the crystal came off.
I removed each one, and now had a simple brass chandelier.
It was the kind of chandelier I would have purchased had I made that decision.
My husband awoke to crystals clanging.
What are you doing? he asked confused.
I am saving you money, I said as he rubbed his eyes.
And so it was.
And so it continues.
I still enjoy remaking things, finding new ways to use old things.
The older the better since the piece has more charm and personality.
Mason jars become utensil crocks for picnics.
Stoneware pitchers become vases for cut flowers.
An old school desk sits in the corner of our dining room.
A Hoosier cabinet gets new life in our kitchen.
Remaking things.
Isn’t that what God does with us?
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!
(Isaiah 43:18,19)
He who is seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)
When we refurbish, restore, or refinish we are making something new.
When we patch or mend, let out, or take in, we extend the usefulness of something.
We reuse rather than throw out.
We dismiss the notion of a throwaway society.
God does not have throwaway people.
In Him we are useful.
In Him we have a purpose.
In Him, we are remade in the hands of the Master Potter.
Can you imagine His answer to our question: God, what are You doing?
I am saving your soul.
I am making you into the image of My Son.
You have new life and a new purpose.
We are grateful.
To our Creator God we are never disposable.
When we are in Christ, through faith, God the Father keeps us and preserves us.
We are His treasure and have great worth in His sight.
I love your story about re-using older things to make a new purpose–many artists do this too. I think God must be so happy when He can see positive changes that we have made in our lives with His help. He is the Master Creator, after all.
Sue,
I love that God makes us new.
I love that His mercies are new every morning.
How blessed we are!
Gina