My sweet husband was a man of many skills and talents. His artistry and craftsmanship were recognized in the many homes, churches, and furniture he built with such attention to the details. He was a perfectionist. He was never satisfied with "good enough”. He was a Master Craftsman with a capital "C". He was also a woodcarver and could make such beauty out of a simple piece of wood.
Five years ago, I saw a woodcarver carving game boards. It reminded me of the round Wahoo board game my husband carved for our family when our kids were young. I don't remember what happened to that beautiful board, but I do remember the hours and hours of fun we had playing with it. I know that I wanted my grown children and their families to experience that fun game like we had. So, I had three Wahoo wood board games made and presented them as a special family Christmas gift for my three families: The Wallace's, The Wuerch's and The Anderson's (my godson’s family). The words pictured here are what I attached to each game board at Christmas of 2015. I seized moments that represented more than memories.....it represented today's joys and tomorrow's. It has blessed me, over the years, when each family sends me photos of their children playing the game. But, last week, while in Austin, the game was taken to a whole new level.
A welcome surprise came during quarantine. My grandson’s girlfriend’s family also play the game but with their new rules for strategizing – unlike the usual, only-win-by-luck game we played before. This photo explains the new rules of having partners and using two decks of cards instead of dice and playing as a single. Oh, what fun we had playing by the new rules and even more so, filling this heart of mine with all the sweet family time playing with the “old” and making it “brand new”.
There’s something to be said for making the old, brand new. Many of us really take off on DIY projects that make the old, brand new. My old piano bench was made new by adding an upholstered cushion to it. Outdoor furniture was made new by spraying on a new coat of paint. Homes are made new when we update them with fresh paint, adding more space or taking out walls to make larger rooms.
God is in the business of making the old, brand new, too! I love Bill and Gloria Gaither’s old song that went like this: “Something beautiful, something good / All my confusion He understood / All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife / But He made something beautiful of my life.”
And those song lyrics tell my story of God’s amazing grace. When I asked Christ to forgive me of my “old girl” past of regret, mistakes, failures, sins – He forgave me and took it all and threw it into His Sea of Forgetfulness. “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19) My “old” became “new” – new outlook, new heart-look, new attitude, and new awareness of my need for Him every day. Like the new Wahoo game strategies, now my new life strategies – partner with His strategies and everyday is brand new in Him. Maybe you’d like to play our new Wahoo rules and new God’s ways, too!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
