“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27
Remodeling is often done when something looks okay, but is not quite functional any longer or a new design is desired. Perhaps some repairs need to be made so a new plan is drawn up and changes begin to be made. If you have ever done any kind of remodeling, then you know the process can be messy. Before anything begins to take the form of the desired plans, it appears as a mess and you can wonder how anything beautiful can come from what you see in front of you. You know the vision you have for how you want the finished product to appear. You have designs, floorplans, and everything else needed to complete the project. What is missing is the time and work necessary to bring the vision to fruition. So patience is required.
As a newly married woman, I'm coming to understand how a new marriage is very much like a remodeling project. It is the tearing down of two separate homes and combining them into one home. And it isn't always clean or pretty. We each have "foundations" of the previous lives we led. In order to successfully combine them into one new foundation, we have many walls to tear down. Walls previously built to protect the old homes are the same walls that could destroy the new home. Life changes require demolition of the old in order to transform into the new.
The process of change is often why people remain where they are even if they know a change is needed. Sometimes we would prefer to patch the current issues in life rather than undertake the work and process of true repair. We can tell ourselves an issue is not really all that bad, but all the time we live in denial, the minor issue is causing problems throughout the whole house. When building a new house, we have to ensure the ground on which we are building is not contaminated by things from the past. To build a home on ground that has not been tested for its stability would just be crazy! And yet, many times in life, we do just this very thing.
Is there an area in your life in need of construction? Are you avoiding the problem in hopes it will just go away? Are you attempting to build a new house on an old foundation? Have you taken the time to examine your foundation at all? Even though the process of this marital renovation has had its share of dirt and mess, I know the end result will be something beautiful. When I read scripture, I'm given the final blueprints for the design the Master Builder originally intended. I can trust the architect of all things good to work things out as long as I'm willing to be patient with the process. Have you given Him control of your process? Have you handed over the design for your life to the One who created life itself?
When you choose your foundation wisely, no mess or storm can destroy what is build upon Christ.
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