Hidden Treasures

Hey I’m Keith Stevens and It’s really cool sharing life together. It is just amazing to me how God gives us little nuggets of truth through-out everyday life in ordinary  circumstances.  My sister recently bought an old house in the wonderful suburban town of Hudson Ohio. They have some historic homes in the town village and she’s always had her eye on one in particular.  The home is from the 1800’s and in need of some repairs so she decided to have some renovations done.  In came some contractors and the first thing they noticed were the wood floors.  They were pretty shot.  Several builders recommended that she totally remove the wood floors and start new.  They were just about ready to rip them up when a cabinet maker and real craftsman, a wood-worker  named Henry stopped by.  He was an average guy, he had a grey beard and a brown straw hat, blue overalls, and his rusty tool box in his hand. He knelt down and examined the floors and saw that they were uneven, stained, and even had chunks of wood gouged out of them. The floors were very distressed and not even anymore.  As he looked closer and touched the old hard wood floors, Henry recognized the slabs as original Chestnut wood!  Extremely rare and quite an opportunity to salvaging and restoring.  Henry said that long ago, many homes in town had chestnut floors before the blight wiped out the most of the chestnut trees.  He also shared that the  black stains on the floor in the family room near the long windows in the front of the house, was an indication that  the house was owned by a blacksmith in the 1800’s and horses would be brought right to the front of the house…evident from the long floor to ceiling windows off the front porch.  And that to keep the orginal feel of the house, she should leave the stains on the floor.  What others believed to be worthless flooring, Henry saw as a diamond in the rough.  Nearly 4 weeks later, and $4,000 in labor, (Henry isn’t cheap) …he has taken up each board one by one, carefully sanded them down, refinished each plank, and re-laid them, back into each room into it’s original unique form. Totally giving the house character and restoring it to the original with gorgeous pre-blight chestnut hard wood floors.  Think of how much more valuable the original is.  I sometimes think God is like a Henry, the master craftsman.  While others would see our lives as old wood that is used or scratched, stained or no good, God sees a treasure.  He sees value.  God is able to use those things in our lives  to restore us.  He has a unique way of looking at you and me and seeing value in what others might disregard.  He sees perfection and character, where others see stains and dead wood.  I like the scripture in the bible that says…God did not give you a spirit of fear…but of power, love, and a sound mind.  I think when we can let go of our past, we start to see ourselves the way God see us.. brand new.