Real Renos

Being in the midst of a renovation has been an interesting experience.  There are many surprises hiding underneath perfectly good drywall and work needs to be done to bring it back up to code.  Strange and fascinating wiring configurations lurk just beneath the surface.  It gets the job done....most of the time.   Isn't life just like that sometimes?

When we got down to the bare studs in the kitchen, I thought about how much more there is to a person than just their outward appearance, their facade.    Very often we are content to just be squared up from a distance and taken at face value.   Some days I'm pleased that this is all that others see of me, as I'm whizzing by.   Upon closer examination they might notice that there are some areas that have a pretty poor spackling job that was painted over.   Then there are the spots that just have a nice picture hanging over something entirely unsightly.  And you know you really should be working on repairing that instead of avoiding it, walking around it. Carrying it.  

This happens.  To all of us.

There is something really scary about surrendering these parts of our lives and being vulnerable before God. To wake up one day and realize that just because this is the way it is, doesn't mean it should be.  To surrender these places and allow Him to do the uncomfortable, painful,  healing work that needs to be done.  To admit that His Master-plan is better than anything we could choose on our own. If we can allow Him to do transformational work in us...He will remove the fascinating and strange band-aids we've added to our lives. If we can let go of the things that aren't really working,  He will take us back down to the bare studs.   He will give us a new heart.  A heart of flesh.  Renew a right Spirit within in us.  Turn our mourning into dancing. Bestow on us a crown of beauty and a garment of praise and bring us back up to code: His plan for our lives.  Imagine the "before" and "after" of a life changed and renewed. 

The Light

There are days when the light flowing into the house is just right.  It illuminates. An ordinary object takes on marvelous qualities.

Isn't life just like that?

God takes ordinary people and when they allow themselves to be used by Him and infused with His Light...they shine...from within.     Ordinary people resembling their Maker and doing extraordinary things.   Even when the mountains shake all around them, and the waters roar.   God is in the midst of them.

Perseverance

I found this post in the archive, written last spring but it was never published.  Hmmm.  

Look at this beautiful tender little thing.   So lovely in all its purple-ness.   It wasn’t supposed to be….  There has been no sign of life in this little pot since I transplanted the little corms.  I had all but given up on it but couldn’t bring myself to toss it out.  

These two little pots were planted at the same time.   A friend gave me a hanging basket but I left it outside a little too long.  I knew the nights were getting colder and then one night it froze.   Many of the tender little plants perished but I knew these were a bit hardier than the rest. One year they bloomed in the garden after surviving the winter in the composter…I thought they were dead.  This time, I rescued them from the big pot, composted the excess soil, and replanted them in smaller pots to bring inside.   I planted them at the same time and kept the pots side by side on the window sill.   They received the same light, lived in the same temperature, and similar moisture….which can be sporadic at best in this house (Not all plants are compatible with that lifestyle). 

Occasionally the leaves die but the corm survives.  It can hibernate, I guess.  

This morning I saw these three little sprouts.   So small.  So timid.   The other one is so green, so lush and I’ve been enjoying its blooms for some time already.  Weeks, in fact.  It just goes to show that some plants need a little more time, patience and understanding than others.  And you can’t rush it.  You can’t make it grow.  You can want it all you want, but it will do it when it’s good and ready.   And in God’s time.  Isn’t life just like that sometimes?

God has a plan.   And you can’t make it happen.  He has a different plan for each person, likeHe did for each of these plants.   I got the exquisite joy of finding it today.  We all “bloom” at different times and under different conditions.   We have everything we need inside of us to become what God had planned before the foundations of the earth were laid.   And in His time we will bloom beautifully in the perfect spot.   And it will bring Him exquisite joy to watch us unfurl.