Pealing the Pain





I was watching that PBS show over last weekend called "This Old House" (or something like it). The sturdy and paunchy Yankee craftsmen show us morons how to do builds and repairs. Mostly, I just marvel, knowing that I have zero chance to learning much of anything apprentice-wise like from their show--besides just some general pointers--so when I have to pay a contractor to do the work, I will at least have some knowledge. The project they were working on was a restoration of a colonial era house that played some crucial role in the Ride of Paul Revere and early Revolutionary War happenings in New England.


One of the craftsman was painstakingly stripping two hundred and thirty-six or so years of layers of paint from the original wood in the house. He was using heat gun to blister up the old paint. Hard work, long work. There was even lead in one of the layers of paint. This reminds me of how God works through the layers of our lives to get down to our hearts. His heat, both of blessing and chastisement, strip us of our fig-leaf covering, coats, and coping strategies. Pain, in particular, penetrates through to the core. It really shows how helpless our defenses are. It is hard to cede control, even to God. He gives us more than we can handle to loosen our grip on the paint brushes of our lives.    


Like Queen Elizabeth, the layers we apply keep the Spirit from being able to heal us. 


"The most commonly accepted theory for Elizabeth I's death has to do with her makeup. As she grew older, the beautiful redheaded queen wanted to keep her skin white, it was a style. She used makeup with white lead in it to achieve that look. The lead corroded her face, so unaware of the damage, she applied more makeup. She had holes in her skin, and was reported to have been applying many inches of makeup to her face each day by the end of her reign."

Our dark souls can't be white no matter how much white paint we slap on; in fact, it is just the opposite. Our souls become disfigured. Put down the brush of works and the false piety paint. Seek Christ's face.   
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_Queen_Elizabeth_I_die#ixzz1yhd08BRp  

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