Flip the Banister

The notorious blank page. It sneers at anyone, trying to craft words.

The main goal is to create something beautiful; it is to create significant art.

And that leads me to this internet post…

“What I wanted to write…”

Underneath this statement, is an exquisite, carved horse, embedded within a staircase banister. This wooden steed is a work of art. It looks like something Michelangelo just whipped up, right after he finished The Pietà and The Sistine Ceiling.

I’m not sure what kind of wood was used, probably Oak. But that sucker just gleams with polished artistry.

But we are not done with the internet sentiment yet. Because, right next to this incredible horse sculpture of a banister, is this…

“What I ended up writing…”

Underneath this statement, we see a different image.

There is a staircase, alright. But, instead of the beautifully embedded, sculpted horse, we are looking at a toy horse, just tied to the banister with a strap. Nope, it’s not a flowing, polished masterpiece. It looks like maybe some child’s play got out of hand.

It begs the question, “Why did they tie the horse to the staircase, anyway?”

Notice, probably that no one is asking or commenting on technique, artistic style, or the personal statement made about life. All anyone can see is just a toy tied to a staircase.

There is nothing to see here.

And that can be one of a writer’s greatest terrors.

“There’s nothing to see here.”

It goes beyond “writer’s block.” It invades existential crisis.

I drone on about this equine staircase, not just from a writer’s standpoint, but from a believer’s perspective as well. You know, Christians.  

You know. What, supposedly, you and I are trying to be.

We, ideally, would love to embody the sculpted banister: sophisticated carved beauty, polished lines, and elegant texture.

But, come on. Most of the time? We are that horse toy.

I had a lot of those toys as a kid. I think I even had that same exact brown horse in the photo. I never thought to tie it to a staircase and call it art. I was too busy playing with it, having my dolls ride sidesaddle on it to think about the grandiosity of masterpiece, life’s purpose, and, of course, your favorite and mine, Divine Calling.

 I have looked at that humorous internet photo, often, to keep from looking at a mocking blank page, with no written words on it.

Writing is one thing. These internet images are spot-on concerning the bane of a writer’s existence.

Faith, however, I believe, must turn those two photos around.

Flip the banister.

That is the more accurate depiction of messy human faith.

At least, it’s my accurate depiction of my messy human faith.

I am not just messy.

I am… scattered?

All over the place?

Maybe, even for EXTRA FUN, unstable?

I am… the fragmented parts: the horse toy, the tie, whether it’s a jump rope, a strap, a ribbon, or a bungee cord; and I am just slapped onto the staircase, sometimes, hanging on for dear life.

“When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”

John 6:12

There appears to be no elegance, beauty, sophistication, or sculpted masterpieces anywhere to be found.

Just me, barely hanging on. I will probably, inevitably, fall to the floor soon.

After all, I was not tied too securely TO that banister, now, was I?

But before I sink into complete equine toy despair, and take you with me, there’s more to the banister story, thankfully, mercifully, more…

As we look at the flipped banister of that grand, polished steed, we see an image.

Is it an impossible image?

Is it doable?

Achievable?

Here’s where some faith banister comes in…

“…‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...’”
Genesis 1:26

Polished, carved in sleek, sculpted lines. An exquisite creation.

Most of us desire to become this and strive to look like that finished masterpiece.

And let’s be real, most of us are somewhere in between.

Part horse toy, part carved steed.

A little “Franken-banister,” maybe?

Some of us have some intricate carving. Some of us are a bit more polished. Some of us still have a crude tie, holding us to something, for some makeshift stability.

And some of us are toy horses on the floor, with only the vision of an Equine Masterpiece in our minds.

Wherever, however, we are, here’s a life and faith-affirming reality check…

“They are all written in your book.”

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being inperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

Psalm 139:16

Before any toy horse, tie, carving, defeat, or success, it was all mapped out.

Fashioned.

You. Me. Masterpiece.

Glory?

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 3:18

From banister to banister then?

And there’s only one direction that banister is galloping,

To a transformed steed. That’s you. That’s me.

Copyright © 2025 by Sheryle Cruse