My wife and I were strolling through a furniture store here in town recently and I was taken aback at some of the new styles or should I say trends in the industry. A few minutes earlier, while we were still on the interstate driving to the store, I said what I always say, “Get whatever you want, I’m just here to pay”. But, as we traversed the showroom, there was one “look” that did not tickle my fancy at all. It was called the distress look or the unfinished look. Well, first of all, it appeared that the not completed stuff was more expensive than the completed stuff; something this last of the baby boomer generation just could not wrap my head around. If my wife even looked at those pieces, “Mr. I am just hear to pay”, would come up with subtle reasons why it would not work in our home. Thank God I didn’t have to do that too many times because she is more conservative than me. In keeping with our agreement, I sat down in an ugly brown, “stressed” recliner with a cheap brass magazine rack next to it. This must be for the disinterested, like me, I surmised. I reached into the rack that held the old periodicals and pulled out a National Geographic dated June 2012. I thumbed through the familiar magazine with the iconic black and yellow cover and looked at a few of the articles. I was just about to put it back in its perch, when I read the title, The Unfinished Obelisk. Not knowing what an obelisk was, I did what comes naturally now, I pulled out my Android and Googled it. It is, just in case you went to the same schools that I went to, a tall four-sided narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape. It went on to say that ancient obelisks are monolithic; that is, they consist of a single stone. The unfinished obelisk creators( approximately 1580-1458 BC) began to carve it directly out of bedrock but cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. I thought to myself, what finality for imperfection. If we applied that reasoning to mankind, we would all be abandoned. I consider myself monolithic; one heart, one soul, and one mind. It was reassuring to know that I serve a God who didn’t give up on me when cracks appeared in my granite; when imperfections rose to the surface like weeds in a beautiful lawn. I was like Humpty Dumpty; my falls were great, many, and frequent. And just like the fictional character, all the kings horseman could not put me back together again. It was not until I surrendered and gave all my troubles to God was I mended, restored, and made whole again. I am still “unfinished” because there is a wonderful road that lies ahead filled with hope, faith, and promise, but the one thing that I am sure of today is; I am not abandoned!
