THE DAMAGED WALL: Restoration or Renovation?

My son and I are working on this mural at our children's centre over the Christmas break.

Our original intention was a restoration project as years of sticky handprints, furniture abrasions, collisions with toys (and climbing boys), catapaults, sellotape, drawings, and general large household life have taken their toll.

(Original 2013)

At one point we discussed just repainting over the whole thing as the entire room needs redecorating and it would take much time and patience to restore it well. (A much easier option but a shame to lose part of its centre piece history). I decided it was worth a repair attempt but it is proving to be more extensive than a simple retouch.

From a distance you don't notice the cracks and chips on the surface. They are mostly ignored as we all walk by and carry on with our daily routine. We have got used to its degraded state but a closer look reveals significant destruction.

Restoration to the original is not even possible. The depth of fractures and holes are too severe to fill. Covering with the same shade to hide damage only makes the uneven surface more prominent.

It has now become a RENOVATION rather than a restoration!

At the end of another difficult year with paintbrush in hand I find each stroke becoming a prayer. I cannot hide the dents and scrapes; repainting only magnifies the scars. Instead I am just allowing the reality to be part of the story.

It is not a quick cover up, make-up masking but a gentle recolouring, reshaping recovery. The unfolding picture includes the lines and holes; tiny testimony details of the challenges and falls alongside significant changes to dynamic and definition.

Now it emerges as a NEW image.... holding the intention of the original with a different perspective.

I think this is what God is doing in this season. His artistry of including brokeness and disappointment within the greater masterpiece. Patiently at work in the cracked and scuffed, colouring the cavities, renewing the outlines and redefining the faded and shapeless with a greater design in mind.

I am grateful he does not pass me by but pauses intently with creative perspective and decides I am worth an attempt too!

There is more to reveal on my wall!

"Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations."

Isaiah 61:4