Thought for the Week-Displaced

Good Afternoon Girlfriends!

You may remember the slight remodel job we did on the house earlier this summer...I do...in fact, I'm still having cold sweats and nightmares!  Well, I've been thinking about that little project, and the fact that I've been living out of a suitcase for the last three weeks.  I've been fairly busy lately.  I had Women's Conference a couple of weeks ago, a family get-away last week, and today I'm packing for another conference.  My suitcase has seen more miles in the past month than a traveling circus!  But with all of those miles, my fuse has been a little short here at home.  I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.  I began to think back to when boxes filled the house, and stacks of items replaced furniture.  My fuse was short during that time frame, too.  This is what I came up with:

As I said, when the summer was fast approaching, my husband decided that some minor changes were in order for the upstairs level of our house.  We had discussed these changed, but had not agreed on a specific time for them to take place.  Apparently he took my approval of the changes to mean that right then was the perfect time to remodel both bathrooms, repaint, and rip out the old carpet so that the new carpet could be laid down.  All of those changes were indeed good things, however the timing was slightly off.  You see, the end of the school year is a very busy time for moms.  We have projects, class plays, field trips and end-of-year parties...not to mention the fact that I had recently resigned from my job of seven years, and was in the process of wrapping things up at the office.  However, I tried to be supportive to my man, and help where I could around the house.

However, I soon realized that laying new carpet was worse than moving, and my attitude began to reflect as much.  As I moved boxes of books from my home office on the second floor to my new office on the first floor, my grumbling became more and more colorful.  The children had to box up their own toys.  Questions were thrown at me, “Why do we have to put our toys in the attic, Mommy?”  “Will we ever see them again?”  “Why do we have to this now?” “I’m tired...” (That last one came from me)  In fact, the only one in the family who was not grumbling or complaining was my husband.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Then, on my fifty-second trip up the stairs it hit me--the rest of us felt displaced.  We couldn’t see the end result.  We were unprepared for the tasks and the journey that we were walking through in order to remodel the house.  My husband, on the other hand, was at perfect peace.  He could see the bigger picture.  He knew the kids were not going to have to sleep on pallets on the floor forever.  In a couple of weeks their new rooms would be ready.  The paint would be dry, the bathrooms completed, the toys unboxed. 

That is a little bit like the way we live our lives here on earth.  Right now, we are displaced.  This is not our true home.  Our home is in heaven.  In effect, our rooms are being remodeled.  Jesus is an expert carpenter.  He tells us in John 14:2-3, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  That will be a wonderful day!  No dust.  No paint smell.  Just Jesus.

So, in short, we are supposed to feel somewhat displaced here on earth.  This isn't our home.  We continually live out of suitcases...they just happened to shaped like our houses!  It's okay to occasionally feel some unrest.  It's okay to occasionally feel overwhelmed.  Might I offer you some advice?  Set your baggage down at the foot of the Cross.  Lay it before Jesus.  He will help you deal with your remodel job. Like I said, He's an expert carpenter.  Have a great week!

“But our citizenship is in heaven.” Philippians 3:20