Work in Progress

I could never live in a house under construction. The mess, the people in and out, the delays, the number of decisions to make…I would completely lose it.

I like everything around me to be in its place, neat and tidy. Order brings peace to my world; a feeling that all is right and well in my life. It gives me a sense of protection, with my home being a strong fortress in which I can find refuge.

There are always the small things that need to be repaired, which are easy to handle. Even while doing minor repairs, we can still clean the house and put everything in order. Then we can invite people into our home and no one will see the leak under the bathroom sink…nor do they necessarily know that the inside frig doesn’t work very well, so we really use the one in the garage…or that under the poster on that bedroom door is actually a BIG hole.

While some things can’t be missed, like the driveway caving in or a garage door needing repair, guests have no idea what actually needs to be addressed in our home. We create it that way. We want others to see the very best, not the mess. But, we know. We live with it every day.

That’s pretty much a picture of our lives, isn’t it? We like things to be neat and tidy. We keep things patched up and glued together or even hidden so that it looks like everything is in great shape. If we put a fresh coat of paint on the walls or line them with wallpaper, we can cover up a whole lot of scars and imperfections. It gives us a feeling that everything is all right. We can still invite people in, because we’re able to hide our brokenness.

Yet, it’s all an illusion.

Bri will sometimes look at a bathroom renovation with a potential client and they’ll tell him that for now, they only want to replace the tile on the walls, not the shower base. Bri will show them how their shower base is already beginning to break down and within a short time, they’ll be forced to go ahead and replace the shower base, potentially causing damage to the new tile. Even worse, if they wait on the base, it WILL worsen and it may cause even greater issues that will require the shower having to be completely redone all over again. The clients’ goal is understandably to save money, but in the end, it will cost them so much more to not address it completely and fully from the start.

It’s the same in our lives. We ignore things that are broken within us. We cover it up, make it look pretty and go throughout our days acting like all is well. We like to focus on that which will cost us the least and try to get away with only renovating what we WANT to change.

We’d rather not make a mess of EVERYTHING. People would SEE that.  We couldn’t keep that hidden and it would get all over everything. Besides, a project like that would be a lot of work, it would be costly, and it would likely run over schedule. Who has time to have their life interrupted for that long?

Ask me to live in the midst of renovation? I don’t think so! Stuff would be in piles all around me and dust would cover everything. The constant banging and other construction noises would put me right over the edge. I would get totally over stimulated and “peopled out.” Trust me. It wouldn’t be pretty! Just do the repairs on what I’m willing to do for now and I’ll deal with the rest when it’s REALLY needed.

The problem? Renovation is inevitable. At some point, things will either become so bad that there’s no choice but to fix them or we’ll arrive at the place where we no longer want to live in past decades. Certain things need to be ripped out, let go of, and have the focus shifted to the present day. If we wait to deal with rotting areas, those will begin to affect the areas around them – relationships, work, health and so much more.

Eventually, we’ll be forced to gut everything and live in the mess – a mess we’ve now initiated and invited in. That’s exactly what’s needed to happen all along.

The idea of renovation can be scary. There are so many unknowns. What’s behind that wall? What will I find under the carpet? What if it’s a whole lot worse than what I’m expecting? What if things don’t turn out the way I’ve pictured it in my mind? What if there are delays and I’m stuck in this mess even longer? What if it ends up costing me way more than I had planned on paying?

Terrifying. Real. Paralyzing. Who wants all of that?

But if we wait, the brokenness within keeps getting worse and it begins to affect other things in our lives. As many have been quoted as saying, “Change happens when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change.”

So, we give in. We welcome the Contractor and His construction crew. We work together with them and we allow them to make a mess in order to create something of greater beauty and function. We allow the work to continue, even past the time when we thought it would be complete. We know that in the midst of the project, we’re still safe and protected because now, our true refuge and fortress is being uncovered and it’s been worth the cost.

Whole. New. Beautiful. We want ALL of that. And, God will give us the grace we need during the process.

Grace to live in the daily mess.

Grace to have things be in process and not immediately completed.

Grace to be patient as the work is done.

Grace to find joy along the way.

Because we trust the One doing the work, it will turn out even better than we could have ever imagined.