Stephen and Courtney

Stephen and Courtney

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Fixer Uppers In Progress

Have you ever had a “morning” with your kids?  The kind where you don’t know whether to pull them back in the car at drop off and hug them tight or throw up a peace sign as your tires squeal out of the school parking lot?  We had one of those mornings not long ago.  Everything that my daughter put on “bothered” her.  Nevermind, that 12 hours earlier I had her try it on to avoid this scene and all clothing was fine but, 12 hours later she is tired and so now nothing feels right.  My son was more interested in loving on the dog than putting pants on and unfortunately, pants are a required piece of their uniform. 

We finally got in the car and started the trek to school.  I was feeling sad and wanting to set a new tone for the morning before drop off but one of the kids had forgot their watch so they were still upset.  We passed the local water park that we go to in the summer and my son looked over to see that is had been torn up for renovations.  He was upset and asked why they had done that and would we be able to go again.  I explained that they were making repairs to get it ready for the summer and he said, “But it looks ruined!”.  I tried to explain and related it to renovations we had done on our home.  I said, “Do you remember when our kitchen and bathrooms were all torn up?  It looked ruined.  Everything was removed and all that was left was not pretty and was messy.  But, they had to do that in order to make it beautiful.”  The words were no sooner out of my mouth than God whispered… “That is what I am doing.  It looks messy but I am building beautiful character into them and you”. 

As I thought about the Truth that He is at work in us and removing the old, sinful parts is messy but He is faithful to build us into something beautiful for Him I was brought to tears.  If you have ever lived in a house being renovated it is just plain awful.  It is messy, inconvenient, and hard.  You may get to know new neighbors because the contractor forgot to hook up your only working toilet before he left for the evening.  You will have to get used to sharing your space with others.  You will live in the dust and debris that comes with demolition.  That is how our sanctification is as well.  You may have to step out of your comfort zone, obey the Holy Spirit that lives in you, and be among the mess.  But the great reward of allowing God to come in and do His work in you is beautiful sanctification. 

I need this in myself.  I need His Spirit to tear down the dry wall of my sinful nature and replace it with His character.  It is also so encouraging to me as a mother.  Raising children is wonderful but working to develop Godly character in them can be difficult.  We work really hard and don’t see the fruit immediately.  That morning I felt like God was telling me that it is okay that it is hard, it’s supposed to be.  It’s okay that we are not perfect and sanitized, we will be messy emotionally and even spiritually while He works in us.  It is okay for it not to be comfortable, He has more in store. 

Sometimes things have to be torn up and look messy before they can be made beautiful.  We can trust in His process and yield to His teaching. 

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Phil1:6