When the Shine Wears Thin (Ben Fowler - June 26, 2020)

Observation, Perspiration or Inspiration: 

When I was a kid, my grandma would wipe down everything with Pledge. Remember Pledge? The coffee table. The chairs. Anything made of wood was constantly being Pledged. We don’t do this anymore. We buy cheap things. Things that don’t need to be polished. Things that don’t require any extra work. We don’t like wooden objects. We like plastic. And what do we do with old plastic objects? We throw them away.

Throughout my twenties and thirties, I worked as a worship director at couple different churches. This was my dream job. But as I got older, the shine began to wear off. When talking to others who did the same thing for a living, we would discuss the endless and ongoing nature of working at a church. It is filled with moments of true fulfillment but like anything else, it is a week-in, week-out labor of love. Even working at a church loses it's shine. 

After a while, the shine wears thin on almost anything. This is true when it comes to marriage and relationships. This true when it comes to our careers.  And this is even true when it comes to the church we choose to spend our years. The grass is always greener. The house across the street looks so much better. And often we trade our current circumstances for something new and shiny before taking out the Pledge.

About 10 years ago my father started showing signs of dementia. He was only 60 years old. I finally busted free to pursue my graduate degree in California and then this happened. The season that was supposed to be shiny began to fog up. When things got bad, I flew to visit him and found he was a different person. My Dad was always a sharp dresser but now he was happily dressed in beat up jeans and a tucked in tee shirt. I wondered what had happened to my dapper Dad. His shine was wearing off.

Five years later I became his legal guardian and took him into my home. I tried my best to care for him but neither of us could fend off his disease. It continued to progress until his level of care required something more robust than I could provide.

He now lives in a nursing in Kaneohe and the staff is shining him up. They do their best to polish his mind everyday. In shifts, the nurses play games with him. Read with him. Sing with him. And literally shower him. Instead of throwing old things away, they’re doing what my grandma did.

All of us have experienced the shine of a new opportunity, career, person, and all of us have seen that shine wear thin. I always thought the Christian life was different. That somehow when we meet Jesus, He makes everything shiny forever. 

The truth is, Jesus doesn't do that. He gives us the ability to care for what have and restore the things we have let slip into disrepair. He gives us the ability to forgive and persevere. The ability to 'Try' for the ump-teenth time. The ability to believe God for a miracle of resurrection as we partner with Him in that work. 

Prayer:

Father, right now, some of us are facing hard situations that require a lot of polish. Some of us are ready to throw in the towel. Give us a vision of what each of our situations could look like with your help. And help us to not lose heart as we begin the process of restoration. Amen.

An Idea:

“I am the resurrection and the life; the one believing in Me, even if he should die, he will live” Mat. 11:25. 

I know some situations feel beyond repair (and some sadly might be) but most can be restored. Let's remember what the situation looked like in the beginning... and start polishing. Start small. Start with a prayer. Then let's give God a chance to resurrect the things in our lives that have lost their shine.