Using Repair Therapy

               Sometimes it seems if something is marred or torn, it is easier, in our 21^st century, to discard the damaged item. Fixing a blemished piece of furniture or a ripped article of clothing takes more time than many of us want to expend. After all, it will only be repaired, not new. Likely, the “scar” from the mar or rip will remain evident.

                I faced this situation recently with a summer work shirt and the wooden box that holds our bag of cat food. Whether it is my age or sentimentality, after briefly evaluating the damaged stuff, I chose to repair.

              I try to embrace “best practices” if I can in my life. My maternal grandmother, Gladys Rainey Smith, lived to 82 years old and was never diagnosed with any type of skin cancer. She never used one smidgen of sunscreen but always worked outdoors with her enormous lined hat, long pants and a long sleeve shirt. This attire remained her summer uniform throughout her life. Since Grandma succeeded at staving off skin cancer, I dress similarly to Grandma when I go outdoors.

                I repurposed several of Dad’s casual shirts to wear during the summer. I was disappointed when I returned from clearing small saplings to spot a long tear in the front of Dad’s brick red plaid shirt. My first and the second attempts with old fusible interfacing were unsuccessful. Not to be dissuaded, I pulled out my sewing machine, threaded it with brick red thread, overlapped the two edges of the torn place and zigzagged them together. The brick red shirt is back in service. As Dad would say – Mission Accomplished!

The repaired brick red shirt

                The second item in disrepair held the large bags of cat food. I reiterate again I am not the crazy cat lady, but we do have a dozen felines.* A few years ago, I discovered a gray wooden box that was perfect for holding the cat food. I relocated it right next to the cat “dishes.” Recently, I was disappointed to see water damage had loosened the parquet lid pieces. After discussing it with Mother, I became more determined to repair and reclaim it instead of discarding it. She confirmed Dad had built it. I am sure the parquet lid was Dad’s effort to utilize the material he had on hand and maybe to be creative or as he would say “add the gingerbread.”

                I took outside the trusty Elmer’s Glue – not school glue, but the real deal. I had seen Dad use it effectively many times. While I waited for the cats to eat, I glued the lid’s underlining back on. Then put old lawn mower blades on top to act as weights and press the pieces together. The next morning upon finding the glue job to be a success, I glued onto the lid the pieces. Not being able to use clamps as Dad did, I used the old lawn mower blades once again. The lid is serviceable again. Mission Accomplished!

Parquet Lid of Damaged Box

         The scripture talks about making repairs. Ironically, each account that is mentioned pertains to God’s people – not the ungodly. One account from the Old Testament in 2 Kings is worth considering.

Josiah began reigning at age 8 over the kingdom of Judah. His rule was encapsulated in this phrase from 2 Kings 22:22 – And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord…

King Josiah ordered the cleanup and repair of the Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The care of the temple had been so neglected that even the Book of the Law (which we would call the first five books of the Bible) had been misplaced. Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby wrote in their devotional, Experiencing God Day By Day, about the obstinate, disobedient people of the Southern kingdom of Judah, "But those who were supposed to be God's people forsook Him and practiced every kind of sin."  
          King Josiah, only in his 20s, was astounded at what God had commanded the people of God to do. This young king led his self-willed country back to obedience to the Lord by following the Word of God that had been recovered, read and obeyed. Recently our pastor, Mike Brock, cited 2 Kings 23:22, 25 as a basis for lauding the extent of the obedience by King Josiah as no king before or after him had done.

                    Many of us want to die believing we have done what was right. Sometimes it is easy to do good things in people’s eyes. But preeminent in God’s eyes will be the question of whether we believed and received Jesus as Lord (boss).
                 King Josiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord by two reparative actions. Daily, our lives need the repair afforded by the same actions of King Josiah - reading and obeying the scripture.

 *Bless Lee Bryant and Kristy Bledsoe for taking one of our good mouser mamas, Brindle Mama Cat, and five kittens. Kristy and Lee Bryant needed eradication of rodents in their barn. We were glad to be neighborly to one of newest newlywed couples in the Bend.