Parable of the Old Chair

One day, an owner of a wonderful homestead was admiring the beauty of Creation all around it and decided that it needed a chair upon which he could rest and enjoy.

And the chair came out of the womb of its box and into the world, and it was beautiful indeed.
But as soon as the chair emerged, something strange happened.

Though it enjoyed many days of beautiful sunrises and sunsets and moonlit skies, fierce storms and harsh winds began to wound the chair, inside and out.

The storms were mean and relentless and came from every direction.

They tried to knock the chair over.

They blew branches onto it and pelted it time and again with many, many acorns.

Soon, the chair that the owner loved very much began to decay.

The owner knew his beloved chair needed rescuing, and when the sighing and creaking of the chair cried out for help, he was ready to get to work.

He knew that there could be no shortcuts.

No dusting things off and hoping the chair could hold on for a few more years.

No spray paint that is uneven, takes several coats, and easily misses the chair’s finer details.

Instead, he bought the finest brush that ever was made and he bought the finest paint that ever was applied...

Lovingly but ever so completely, he dipped the brush into a can that was labeled red but resulted in something amazing:

The decaying chair that the owner loved so dearly somehow turned pure white!...

His brush did not miss a crack, sliver, hidden corner or rough spot. 

Everything about the chair was beautiful,

And it was not just skin deep but from the inside out.

It was the same chair and yet it was without question brand new, and the owner loved it so.

And the chair no longer sighed and creaked and the owner danced over it with joy.

He could have kept his new-new chair out of harm’s way after that, but then it wouldn’t have been a very good or useful chair.

So the owner put the new-new chair back out into his yard where it belonged.

And just as before, there were many days of beautiful sunrises and sunsets and moonlit skies.

And there were still many fierce storms and harsh winds and tree limbs and sharp acorns that were mean and relentless and came from every direction, all trying to knock the chair over.

But no matter how hard they tried, they could not.

The owner had made sure of that.

In every season, the new-new chair stood strong. Nothing could kill it.

And it all brought not just many days but endless days of joy to the chair and its owner…

"For I am convinced and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt—that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unlimited love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

—Romans 8:38-39, Amplified