Wallpaper and God’s Handiwork

by | Feb 22, 2012 | Fiction Book Reviews | 5 comments

We just bought a new house.

We’ve been searching for one for about two years now and this opportunity came as a great deal over Christmas.

Everything was finalized on Valentine’s Day and then….

the real work started.

The house has wallpaper in every room but two. LOTS of wallpaper. Wallpaper with two borders and various different patterns.

Most of my evenings and lunchbreaks have been spent peeling wallpaper. It’s a slow, laborious project – and as I sit with a spray bottle and scraper in hand, I think about God.

Yeah, I know. What does God have to do with wallpaper?

Well, I guess the wallpaper has more to do wtih us than God. You see, taking down wallpaper reminded me of God’s refining work in our lives.

God peels back the layers of our sin to get to the heart of us. Some pieces slide off easily – we freely give them up to the Lord. Some pieces need a little extra pull, tug, or vinegar-water mixture – but then they’re off too.

But then there are those extra sticky parts of our lives. The sins that seem glued to the very framework of our souls. The secret desires. The besetting sin. The craving.

Those take work from the Carpenter of our Souls.

Through circumstances, trials, and the work of other people, God scrapes away at our sin until he reaches the wall. And like most walls after the wallpaper has been removed, it needs some major repair.

Christ sweeps in and patches up the holes with his love and mercy. Places the puddy of his grace in the broken places. And seals the wall with the promise made in His blood.

Our salvation.

So….

Wallpaper reminds me of Jesus.

And how much I REALLY never want to have to peel it again.

EVER!

But praise God, He doesn’t give up on me as quickly as I want to give up on my project.

And when He’s all done – the end result will be ‘out of this world’ 🙂

5 Comments

  1. Susie Cantrell

    Hi Pepper,
    I Just Love It! I’ve done home renevation & wallpaper removal is a great example of God’ process of removing sin from our lives. “Ouch & Awww…”! What a blank canvass of potential purpose a bare wall or bare soul is. :o) And Yes, I Praise Him with You that He Never gives up on us . . . Oh to be renovated into the likeness of our Christ Jesus. \ o /
    Be Encouraged with your work… I’d love to have a look at your renovated rooms…hint, hint. 😉
    Thanks for sharing your insight & creative application of God’s word in our daily lives.
    Love Ya, Susie 🙂

    Reply
  2. Sherrinda

    Have you moved in yet? Or are you able to do the work before the move-in?

    Reply
  3. Sarah Forgrave

    Pepper, You are a true writer, finding God’s truth in wallpaper. I love it. 🙂

    And I hope your projects are going well and you can get truly settled in soon!

    Reply
  4. Sarah Forgrave

    Okay, I just realized how many times I used a version of the word ‘truth’ in my comment. Hmm, God must be teaching me something subliminally today, lol.

    Reply
  5. Pam K.

    When I bought my present house 5 1/2 years ago, I spent some time taking ugly wallpaper off the dining end of the kitchen. I was still in the early months of a separation from my then husband (not my idea to separate or later divorce). I did a lot of praying and crying while scraping those walls. I didn’t make the connection you did, though a couple of summers ago when pulling bindweed from the strawberry bed, God did impress on me how bindweed is like sin. The flowers look so pretty at first but if you don’t pull it out, it will entangle the good plant and kill it. Also, it is almost impossible to get it totally out; you have to keep working at it so it doesn’t keep coming back. So like sin!

    Reply

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