Some of you will remember that I wrote about a stove restoration project I’m working on. I put that project on hold while I

refinish some furniture. I’ve done lots of furniture work in the past, but this will be my first time preparing indoor furniture to be used outdoors. I found a great set with a table, six chairs, and a matching rolling sideboard for $60 on Craigslist. My hunch is that it is a well-made set from the early 80’s. It is in pretty good shape, but it’s outdated, and the table’s varnish had noticeably yellowed. It definitely needs a paint job, both to protect it and to make it look nice again.

Because it’s going outside I need to use oil-based paint and primer to help keep moisture out. The chair pads are easy to deal

with. I have already recovered some of them with a white vinyl, over which we’re adding an outdoor fabric with a colorful sea turtle print. I’ve also sanded down all the parts enough that I can get a shellac-based primer to bond to the existing finish. That’s the easy part. The hard part, for me at least, is getting a nice, durable, waterproof finish on all the pieces. After doing my internet research I realized that my best bet was to spray it. I used to have an airless paint sprayer (until I sold it last year), but this project is better suited to an air gun. Plus, I will want to spray automotive enamel on the stove to keep it in good shape over the long term, so the furniture is a good place to start.

Spraying these kinds of finishes can be hazardous to your health, which means I have had to do a fair amount of planning. The weather is too unpredictable to do the work outside. Plus, the rectory is virtually covered in tree canopy, so who knows what might fall onto my perfect paint finish while it is drying? And to just do it in the garage means a fine mist of paint would fall on everything else in the garage. So what do to? Well, I decided I needed my own paint shed, an enclosed space with ventilation to bring in fresh air while pumping out the fumes. Turns out building one was easier than I thought.

I took our pop-up canopy frame and covered it in plastic, sealing the seams, and taped the whole thing to the floor. An 8-inch duct with an in-line fan, vented to the outside provides the circulation, and voila: a paint shed in the garage. I’ve not started on the furniture yet, but I did spray some of the burners for the stove to test the shed and it worked perfectly. With my respirator on and the fan pulling air through, I couldn’t smell the fumes, and even in the garage the odor was very light. Success! It may seem like a lot of work, but those fumes can seriously damage lungs permanently. It’s an invisible danger, but a legitimate one nonetheless.

This got me thinking. What are the other invisible dangers that we face? Some things can be dealt with by adding a little ventilation or wearing protective gear. But others are more subtle and while not life-threatening, still seriously bad for us, if not in body, then in soul and mind. I’ve written before about toxic people and toxic situations. There are people we just don’t need in our life, and situations that we could stand to distance ourselves from. There are also burdens and pains that grow heavier and more destructive with time. But if some of these situations and people are so subtle in their impact, an invisible threat to our well-being, how do we protect against them?

My hunch is that we need to build a spiritual paint shed, as it were. Our prayer life and the spiritual practices that feed us are the tents in which we are able to vent things and be refreshed by the Holy Spirit as it blows over us. There is a spiritual meditation practice called, “receive and release”, that some of you have done with me in group settings. It’s a prayerful approach to releasing the things that burden us and weigh us down while receiving something life-giving from God at the same time. It’s ideally done in time with our breathing, releasing on the exhalation and receiving on the inhalation. In my experience it is a very simple and yet very effective exercise.

Whatever our spiritual paint shed looks like, it’s important to use it; to spend time there. If we don’t, toxic things, burdens, worries, fears, and all the rest of it can build up and slowly rob us of the life God intends for us. I hope that the weekly Eucharist is a part of your spiritual paint shed. Perhaps the Daily Office is part of it too. Maybe you want to experiment with the receive and release exercise. Whatever it is for you, I pray that it works, and that you find your life renewed and refreshed. If you realize you don’t have this in your life, and want it, your clergy will gladly help you come up with a plan (or a rule of life as we call it). We all show wear and tear over time, and we could use a little spiritual refinishing of our own. Doing it in the garage is up to you.

Tom+

Lord, we are your people, the sheep of your flock. Heal the sheep who are wounded, touch the sheep who are in pain, clean the sheep who are soiled, warm the lambs who are cold. Help us to know the Father’s love through Jesus the Shepherd and through the Holy Spirit. Help us to lift up that love, and show it all over this land. Help us to build love on justice, and justice on love. Help us to believe mightily, hope joyfully, and love divinely. Renew us that we may help share your love to all, so that they may come alive to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.