Construction Zone

We are living in a Construction Zone right now. The past week, our kitchen cabinets have been refinished (a beautiful ivory with clean glaze in the ridges) and - upon finishing the cabinets this morning - the wood floors will be refinished the next 3 days. And did I mention there is a jackhammer chipping away at my front steps? Yes. It's a wonderful, dusty mess.

But I have a vision. Yes, I do. And hopefully it will lead to a quick sale in 2
weeks (we already have a showing scheduled and we're not even on the market!).

All this dust, noise and chaos reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."
(C.S. Lewis)

I've loved that quote for years. That analogy is so fitting to how our Heavenly Father works in our lives. We think we're chuggin' along, doing pretty well on our own. And THEN He decides to tear down a wall and start building a wing! "No, thank you!" you want to say. "I was doing just fine!" But He - the Grand Architect of all - has a vision greater than anything our feeble, limited minds can imagine. He is building a Home that is eternal. Not one that can be leveled by fires, tsunamis or earthquakes. But one that we'll take with us. One of the ONLY things we can take with us when we pass on . . . Our House of Character, Integrity and Devotion to God.

And so, our family is TRULY in "construction mode" right now. Yes, that of the physical variety but also that of the spiritual sort, as well. The Lord is chiseling away at our souls. And we believe that - in the end - the Pain, Hurt and Loss will all lead to a Masterpiece by the Great Master Himself.

We just have to be willing.

And so we'll draw pictures in the dust, we'll take bets on how many chunks of cement they remove from our yard and we'll turn the music up a bit louder to cover the sounds of the jackhammer. And through it all, we'll have faith in the end product 'cause it's all gonna be worth it.

It's all gonna be worth it.