Woodworm

By Colleen McSorely

I moved house a few weeks ago... In the process of picking new paint colours I decided I needed ( clearly a life or death matter) a dressing table. I had my heart set on something beautiful and filled with old character, it was proving more difficult to find than I thought!  I can tell you now- i'm spoilt. When we arrived on moving day we discovered the most beautiful vintage dressing table that had been left behind for us. My heavenly Father has a habit of embarrassingly spoiling me & answering my smallest what feel like insignificant wishes!

So, back to my beautiful old dressing table... As if moving house wasn't enough me and my dad took to restoring my new treasure. It wasn't long into our work that we discovered some of those dreaded holes... on close inspection we realised this beautiful piece of furniture had a run in with woodworms at one time.. eww! Much to my relief they had long evacuated the premises!! Much to my naivety I asked Dad if woodworm was really that big of a deal, to which he replied "only when the holes join up and there's no wood left"... Oops, I guess woodworm really is a big deal!

As I was standing there looking at this beautiful 'dimpled' wood it hit me- we all have our own version of wood worm. I like to call it our choices... yep, I went there! It hit me that a worm so tiny could make such a hole in something so big and strong. A lot like our small choices, the small choices to honour even when it hurts, to deal with insecurities as they arise- even if it's awkward and painful. The choice to worship in every circumstance. The choices to forgive & trust God with all we are! When we don't make the small healthy choices daily it opens us up to the small worms that eat away at who we are & even what God has for us! I was never designed to be 'dimpled'.

Ask any of the young guys I get to lead, they'll tell you I use the 'Choice' word quite a bit... I believe that our choices, the small and the big are incredible powerful! It was that much clearer to me as I stood there restoring my beautiful dresser with my dad, it's safe to say that my relationship with my dad wouldn't be what it is today without the small good choices I made in my heart and life! I can tell you that sometimes the only way we can make those choices is by asking our incredible heavenly Father to help us make them! His strength, wisdom & grace leads the way!

The beauty of the restoration process is that those potentially damaging holes are no longer there, Jesus is more than big enough to fill them- i'm so glad! In the end we're a lot like my dresser... beautiful, restored & filled with character... we just need to make sure no woodworm creeps back in!

( Here's a little photo of my beautiful restored dresser- hole free!!)