Redecorating

Have you ever lived in a house that doesn’t match your stuff? A house full of flooring and light fixtures and cupboards that are outdated and worn and ugly? That’s my house. It’s was built in the seventies and retains some of the charm of that era: a Jack and Jill bathroom in the playroom, gold carpet on the floor, dark shelving and trim in the living room.

And the paint! Oh my word! I do not long for fall. It’s colors are spread out majestically over my walls. Pumpkin. Caramel. Hunter Green. Gold. I love light and these colors drink in the sun in big thirsty gulps, covering me in shade and shadows.

So we work. All the changes that we have made in the house so far have been with an eye to creating more light. Heavy drapes came down. Stuart is preparing to install French doors leading out to the sunroom. I paint. Cameo blue and white cover the gold hallway. Blue and white comforters do not pop against a pumpkin background, so bedroom walls are coated in layers and layers of white.

The house is a mess this afternoon. Stuart has tools scattered down the length of the hallway. He is installing trim in Lauren’s bedroom. I have shoved the furniture in John’s room against one wall and laid a sheet of plastic over the floor. A roller full of Kilz bulldozes away the caramel color in his room. The gold carpet, which was muted against the caramel walls, now shouts from the floor. It is out of place against the white walls and blue bedding.

I think as I paint. This must be how it is for God.When He comes and makes our heart His home, I’ll bet He is excited to get to work so that this “home” can better show off His glory. It must bother Him that His elegant furnishings don’t match our tacky décor.

My blog links have been full of evidence of His redecorating in the lives fellow bloggers this week. He clears away the old to make room for the new. God’s new is always better than our old. Some share triumphant news. God’s glory is surely found in the triumphant when a person frames success in terms of look what God has done rather than An Ode to the Great and Talented Me. A friend writes of her journey to acceptance in a time of sickness. Our natural tendency is to rebel, to be bitter when health is elusive. To rejoice during such a time could only be a change wrought by the Master Designer. Two sisters write of the death of a nephew. They grieve deeply and and yet declare God's sovereignty during this dark and sudden chapter that has been written into their family. They are hard pressed, perplexed but they do not despair. Only those filled with the glory of God would not despair at such a loss.

All of these triumphs, disappointments and tragedies are invitations extended to us by the Father to allow Him to tear out, to rebuild, to redecorate for we house His glory. He wants our house to match His.

I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells. Psalm 26: 8

And glory has come to me through them. John 17:10