While the world hunkers down to evade Covid-19 and many use quarantine time for creative endeavors, abandoned projects, or nursing a sick loved one, I grab my duster, rags, and ancient bottles of furniture oil and set to doctoring a ninety-year-old chest of drawers.
I polish this old dresser as if it’s a treasure, which of course it is, filled with memories of two households. My husband’s mother was given the mahogany bedroom suite as a young bride, and eventually, all the pieces came to us. Three generations of children left their marks on once-gleaming surfaces. Over the years, movers and Hoovers added bumps, scrapes, and gouges to drawers, door, and frame.
After dusting and cleaning with orange oil, I apply Old English Scratch Cover. It’s a messy step. The dark stain gets under my nails and, when I lean against the dresser, on my sweatshirt. Only my husband and I will see the results, and wonderful writing and sewing projects await, but my quarantined heart isn’t yet buoyant enough to create. So, I toil, but … as I clean, rub, and polish, something moves inside me, like a leaf unfurling.
The dark stain seeps into jagged scars, creating shadows to play up the now-gleaming surface. Scratchy lines, drawn long ago by an angry child, an edge chewed by an anxious puppy, and countless cuts and nicks resulting from careless actions disappear under the wine-colored flow. As the dresser absorbs the stain, the sins of a lifetime are covered over, reminding me how the blood of Jesus worked on this sinner’s soul.
I’m thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made to cover over the offenses of my lifetime and grateful that, unlike the need to treat the dresser with Old English every few years, his gift was once for all. Even better, the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament are no longer needed to buy our redemption. The Bible tells us what God asks for instead.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” ~ Mark 12:28-31 NIV
Inspired by the Bible story of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead, author Dana McNeely wondered what became of the boy. She began research for her novel, “Rain,” which tells the story of the three-and-a-half-year drought from his perspective. No stranger to drought, Dana lives in an Arizona oasis with her hubby the constant gardener, two good dogs, an antisocial cat, and migrating butterflies.
In 2021 RAIN became a finalist in The Christy Award (use the registered mark) and was also a finalist in the 2022 ACFW Carol Award® and was also a finalist in the 2022 ACFW Carol Award.
WHIRLWIND, the second novel in the “Whispers on the Wind” series, tells the story of a king’s downfall and a love that transcends war.
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Nice food for thought, Dana. Is your book published? I love Biblical fiction so wanted to check it out.