A Multitude of Sins
I’ve spent far too many hours over the past several weeks stripping decades of old paint from
a sort of cabinet I’ll call a pie safe for lack of a more descriptive term. This cabinet, which
stood to the left of the refrigerator in my grandmother’s home housed plates, cups, and bowls
behind glass doors up top. Two small drawers contained all the flatware, and I’ve just realized
I have no idea what she kept behind the solid doors at the bottom.
I have fond memories of this cabinet – primarily due to the leftover biscuits it often contained.
Granny made biscuits every morning of our visits. I can still see her sifting flour with her hand,
rolling out the dough, and placing the cut biscuits on a wobbly little black baking sheet. She
never measured a thing. Although I loved biscuits buttered with preserves or served with her gravy, my favorite was the brown sugar biscuits we shared around the kitchen table long after
breakfast was over. I felt so loved.
Eventually that cabinet wound up in my house. I painted it dark green and used it in a
bedroom to hold a few books and decorative items. Years later I painted it bubblegum pink
and gave it to my granddaughter for toys and stuffed animals.
She’s older now, so we’ve been giving the old cabinet a new look. Thinking we’d replace the
hardware, I decided to also strip away the old paint. Easier said than done. It was during this
ordeal that I voiced one of my mother’s sayings: Paint covers a multitude of sins.
She laughed and asked what I meant.
Well, I wasn’t sure. I mean it’s just something my mother said every time we painted. I
hemmed and hawed while I thought. Paint hides things, covers the scuffs and scrapes, but a
multitude?
There are a lot of ways paint can be used to hide imperfections or change appearances.
Decorators can use different paint colors to make rooms appear larger or smaller or to hide
an awkward door or architectural feature. People may paint murals to hide ugly walls. Artists
may reuse canvases, covering over earlier, perhaps flawed, efforts. Teachers may use paint
to camouflage exposed pipes or unattractive features in their classrooms.
Warming to my topic, I continued. Paint is transforming. Children may transform into tigers
with face paint. Make-up artists may work to transform ordinary features into extraordinary
ones. And who among us hasn’t witnessed the transformation of someone we know with a
new haircut, a freshly made-up or shaven face, new clothes, a new start.
And it’s true. “Paint” can hide our flaws, our shortcomings and help us reset our moods, give
us the confidence to take on a new job or start a new school, but before I dive too deeply into
the idea of “paint” or clothes making the man or woman, I should probably mention that my
mother’s saying had been altered. The original is from the bible: Above all, love each other
deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
Cover, in this sense, doesn’t mean to hide or conceal, but to forgive.
We still use “cover” in this sense when we cover the cost of a friend’s ticket, purchase a meal
for someone, or make a donation to cover expenses.
Love covers, pays the price, forgives a multitude of sins.
Peter was probably citing an earlier verse: “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all
wrongs.” Proverbs 10:12
As we move closer to a national election, I hope you’ll take time to look beneath the “paint,”
beyond the rhetoric, and do your bit not to stir up conflict. Remember these words of Martin
Luther King, Jr.:
“The ultimate measure of a man (or woman) is not where he (or she) stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he (or she) stands at times of challenge and
controversy.”
In the face of controversy and hatred, I hope we respond with love. It’s covered. I’ve got you.