Our family is now into week three of a six week renovation project to combine our kitchen and dining room into one more functional room. The plan includes ripping out everything (and I mean everything) and rebuilding our new, larger room. Gone are the old cabinets, old appliances and old floor. Slowly, new floor and cabinets are replacing the older versions. New appliances arrived last week and await their turn to be positioned in the new kitchen area.
Even though it’s only been three weeks, as we walked across splintery wood planks, we groused about our “primitive” conditions…imagine, we had to walk downstairs for water and didn’t have a stove to cook on!
Watching the renovations unfold, it was amazing to watch how quickly the old, worn-out cabinets, flooring and appliances were removed. It only took one day for the rooms to be gutted and absolutely bare. Since day two of our project, the progress has been painfully slow. Many days have been spent fixing “behind the wall” problems. Things like replacing wood, plumbing, electrical wiring and vents have moved at a snail’s pace. Just last week, after a few weeks, the beautiful new flooring was installed. Finally, we see some progress for the big investment we are making.
As I think about our hearts, they seem much the same. When we struggle with sin, God’s grace can do a miraculous “clearing out” of the garbage in our lives in minutes or seconds. But, then starts the hard work. Some work isn’t even observable by others because it is “under the surface”. This type of work takes great effort and much time before we begin to feel the results of the rehabbing of our hearts. But with God’s grace, our hard work and the needed endurance, the results are beautiful!
Monday, June 4, 2007
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