Family Tablecloth

from www.istockphoto.com

From a wrong mindset to a well-meant intention to a project completed, our family tablecloth has been altered.  It had become such a commonplace sight that when I recently placed it on our table, I did not consider its effects.  The free-handed drawing of the betrayer's hand print, who had not bothered to attend that Easter celebration in 2002, did catch the notice of the betrayed, however.  Pain has a way of propelling me to action; thus the unsightly artwork is now in the trash.


Initially after their divorce, I pharisaic-ally philosophized that the record of our family should be maintained on the tablecloth and dismissed the consideration of other ideas.  A few birthday celebrations later I had been awakened in my entire being and began to ponder how to remove the fabric paint, because it was a painful memory that none of us needed to think upon.  Time lapsed between birthday celebrations, and I stopped "seeing" the mess on the end of the tablecloth...until the eyes of the one divorced saw it for the first time since the day we decorated the tablecloth. 

I longed to remove the paint so that it looked like it had never been there.  I spent some time and energy working toward that goal only to discover that the effort it would take was destroying the fabric.  Cutting off the end and re-hemming seemed the next logical solution.   The tablelcoth is visibly but acceptably altered at last!

I now understand that my desired method of fixing the tablecloth has often been my default in life.  I want things to be fixed so that they appear as if nothing was ever wrong or broken -- and by that I mean no residual pain or consequences.  But that's not Kingdom reality nor is it transformational.  Thankfully God applies the perfect solutions to each of my life circumstances which in turn cause repair, renewal and transformation. 



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