With Grit and Grace

I’m devoting this week to editing the memoir of a missionary couple, who spent more than forty years overseas in a country that is closed to the Gospel and hostile to Christians. Their stories are amazing! But the project itself is enormous. Thus, I’ve taken a bit of a blogging break this week so I could stay focused on getting some editing work done.

But . . .

I’m going to take a five-minute-time-out and write about “grit.” Then, I’ll get back to editing. 🙂

* * * * *

My husband works for a company that makes custom cabinet doors. Not too long ago, he was walking through the manufacturing plant when he noticed several planks of Honduras Mahogany tossed into the scrap pile.

Come to find out, this expensive wood was accidentally planed too thin to be used for cabinets. Ruined and unusable, the exotic lumber lay in the waste bin—awaiting the fateful wood chipper. But Jeff got permission to bring the wood home instead.

He dragged the long pieces of richly colored Mahogany onto the driveway and showed me the varied grain patterns in the sunlight. Jeff explained to me how the wood must first be scratched with course-grit sandpaper. Then these scratches are scratched again and again, each time with a finer course of grit, until the surface is as smooth as glass.

For the next few Saturdays, Jeff remained secluded within his half of the garage. (The mini-van gets the other half.)

Finally, the mystery project was finished. Jeff shielded my eyes with hands that smelled like clean forest. Then he slowly let me see. It was a jewelry box. And it was our anniversary.

My favorite gifts are always the ones that are handmade. Just knowing how much time was poured into it blesses me. But more than anything, I appreciate the stories behind these personalized gifts.

Knowing that this beautiful wood was destined for destruction adds special meaning to me. What was considered worthless in one person’s eyes was wrought full of promise in other person’s eyes.

In the same way, the prophet Jeremiah explains that we are like a clay pot—marred beyond its intended use. Yet, Jehovah takes what is left and forms it into another pot—one that exceeds the original function and beauty.

With grit and grace, God makes all things new, if we just ask Him to.

“But the pot he was shaping from the clay
was marred in his hands;
so the potter formed it into another pot,
shaping it as seemed best to him” (Jeremiah 18:4).

Have you experienced the Hand of Jehovah reshaping you and making you new?

Today, I’m joining Lisa-Jo, taking 5 minutes to write about “grit.”