I am being remodeled....

Here I sit... getting to run my fingers as fast as I can over the keyboard, pouring words as fast as I can think them onto my blog.... sheer joy.  And this comes only after 1) I completed my art closet gutting 2)started refurbishing what was once an out of date wet bar that I have hidden since we moved in last August, that is now transforming into a cozy extra space for fun and decor 3) removed the outdated brass fireplace cover that I have wanted down since we moved in, to begin the fireplace update  4) caught a few of the sun's rays 5) sat in the redneck swimming pool a while (AKA our hot tub that we do NOT have hot water in this time of year) 6) ran some errands  7) and even did a little reading.

All of this took place in one glorious summer day... one GLORIOUS summer day... the day we had no where we had to be... the day my little one's fever FINALLY broke.... the day my hubby was home....the day we were supposed to be at a day resort, but couldn't because the little one wasn't 100%... (oh, wait, that one wasn't a good one... oh well, 99% glorious day, right?).  Today is the kind of day that I look back and say, "Now THAT is summer!" 

It's actually good that I chose to come to the computer and write a while.  I have teens upstairs, with extra teens with them, daddy and our dramatic flair are watching a movie, and it was either come type or I was going to start attacking the kitchen floor with a sledge hammer. I love the flooring all through our home, except in the kitchen. It's white ceramic tile.  Have you ever tried to keep WHITE ceramic tile clean... with a ton of kids running around all the time?  I have a vision for the floor and I am itching to get after it.  Something in me says I better tackle the smaller projects first, because I have a feeling once I start that, I will be at it until I am SICK of it.  But I gotta tell ya, with my juices for project tackle flowing, it is hard to stop... not to mention money... but that's a whole different blog!

I never realized when we moved in, just how much I was going to love starting over to make a house "mine" again.  Ours back home was so very hard to leave because I had poured so much of "us" into every room in that place.  We have lived here since last August and I love it, but with teaching and kids, I just haven't had the time to allow myself to dig in and get going on the "making it US" thing.  Now that I have, WHOA!  I am having fun and I am excited about the renovations, one small step at a time.  The house has been just fine.  It is a nice house and we are very blessed.  But it just hasn't been US.... not like I want it to be... not like the last one.  But now I am off and running.  I love that we didn't get a brand new home in perfect condition.  It would be hard to add our "flair".  Why fix what's not broken?   But to buy a house that has wonderful character, but needed some of our touch... well....what fun!

It's funny really, how something like simple remodeling projects, can really open your heart to other things (or at least mine.  My friend said I can make anything into a reflection.  What can I say... it's true!) Anyway, as we were taking off the old fireplace doors and screen, I started thinking about how it once was brand new.  I bet the builder of this home stood in total admiration upon the installation of what I now consider a dated eyesore. What was once perfection and splendor has now become a thing of the past that needs to be removed.  Does anyone but me see the spiritual irony in that setting?  Maybe, just maybe that is why I LOVE to redo things... it holds deeper meaning to me.

Think about it.  Just as the things in our homes becomes dated and needing repair, so do our spiritual souls, and even more, our physical bodies.  If we stayed the same over the course of time, we would become dull and lifeless, much like the brass encasing around my fireplace hearth.  And just as it takes a lot of work, sweat, and sometimes difficulty to achieve the goals we have in our remodeling projects (at least if you are like me and follow the do-it-yourself way), so our spiritual renewal and growth can be as well.

When I think of my Tuffy and how wise he was at such a tender age, is it no wonder?  Look what that poor baby endured in his short time.  Hid refinement through the fire was brutally swift.  He was already blessed with the pureness of the faith only children seem to have, that when the illness struck and his physical body dwindled more and more every day, his spiritual-ness grew into giant form.  Because he was only three, of course he didn't even know how close to Christ he was... or how deeply he was being used to touch lives over and over and over for the Kingdom.  Even that was the beauty in the painful fire...because of his tender age, even his witness had no self-seeking about it in any way.  Remarkable.  No other word.

Eventually, his body grew too frail to go on and right then, God looked down upon that broken, suffering little boy and no doubt smiled, knowing right then, he was about to remodel that worn out body and growing little soul  right into perfection.  PERFECTION. 

Today, I don't reflect what WE are promised nearly as much as I think about the pure joy our FATHER experiences as He brings each of us home into our remodeled perfection!  As much as I sit back and enjoy something I have redone in my home, it is absolutely null and void in comparison to the celebration of our perfect Father bringing us home to His perfection!  Makes me breathless to imagine!

Tonight, I have a dear friend I grew up with that is hurting deeply because her daddy has gone home after a long battle with cancer.  What deep, deep pain.  I have another family that suddenly lost a mom/ grandma to an unexpected stroke.  Sudden sadness.  I have a dear friend sitting bedside with her daughter who has lung trouble, that I know would give anything to find a way to end the difficulties for her child. What concern and fear.  Another friend's husband is fighting stage four throat cancer.  Grief.  Another friend is fighting breast cancer. Difficult.  I just found out about a friend who just underwent surgery for a brain tumor.  Shock. The list goes on and on... the hurts are many.

But, with my projects under way, I am smiling tonight because I remembered today that we are a remodel project of the Lord most High!  No matter what it looks like here... no matter the sadness, suffering, illness, and loss..... perfection awaits... and THAT is healing in and of itself! 

Thank you Jesus for the promise of full and total renovation right into perfect eternity!  Kiss my baby for me....

Robin