Stains on a Mantel

“Okay, someone help!”

That was the start of a recent Facebook posting from a listener. 

“ I let the kids have ‘movie and pizza night’ in the living room recently, and (well) pizza and stuff was left on top of our new stone fireplace (mantel). What can I do to get the ‘stains’ out?? 

My 2-cents on the subject of stain removal.

Leave it!?

As a neat freak, I can relate. Frustrating, yes!

But seriously, just leave the stains…as a fond reminder.

Take it from a middle-aged dad with ‘adult’ daughters.

They grow up, way too fast.

They get busy. And time together as a family of four grows less and less.

That’s life, right?

But for now, just stick a fake fern or a picture frame over the stains.  It’s temporal!

Then 5, maybe 10 years down the road you can truly enjoy those ‘stains’ of childhood.

“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.

Remind me that my days are numbered—

how fleeting my life is.

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?

My only hope is in you”  -Psalm 39:4,7 NLT

By living life, our children will leave behind their marks of growth.

The laughter. The tears. The unmade beds. Even stains on the mantel.

All of those visible snap-shots in time, given time  = PRICELESS.

-Verne