house

Have you ever watched an artist
skillfully craft a work of art
from nothing into something magnificent?
A painting? A drawing?
Canvas white; white as snow
Clean start
He’ll take it wherever he wants to go
Watch closely;
you can never reconstruct those moments,
just like the artist can not reproduce
the exact same piece of art

What about a baby?
Ever watch it develop in the womb?
Then watch as her parents, and the world,
sketch out who she becomes
Mind is white; white as snow
They’ll take her wherever they want to go
Watch closely

But what about an old house?
One with life and character of its own
Stains on the walls and ceilings
Unleveled ground here and there
Filled with dirt and dead bugs
Light switches that no one knows what they turn on
A cubby hole in the wall where the telephone used to go

Ever watch someone come in and find
a use for the old, useless holes?
Ever watch them give the switches a new purpose-
to light up the house?
Watch them clean out the dirt and death?
Watch them make the ground level
so that everything that’s put on it will not topple anymore?
Watch them, not just paint over the stains,
but tear down the sheet rock and put up clean white walls?
Or colorfully painted walls?
Watch closely

Watch the former owner walk around the house
and not recognize a thing
Watch her not even know where to walk
A friend comes in and asks for a tour of the remodeled house
but she can not give one
Then watch closer
As the new owner takes the girl by the hand
and leads her through the house
He shows her all the things he repaired, replaced,
and made completely new
He shows her how to get from room to room
In some rooms, he spends much more time than others,
explaining every detail
When they get to the bottom of the stairs
He says “let’s wait till tomorrow for the upstairs.
I still have more work to do up there.
When I’m done, I’ll show you.
And then, I’ll come back downstairs from time to time
To touch up the things that wear down again.”
Watch the girl.
She looks troubled by the thought of things wearing down again
But he says, “Don’t worry, I bought this old house
for a mighty price.
I can’t leave.
I’ll be around here forever.
And I’ll continue to work on it every day.
You might even stumble upon something new every once in a while.
Just follow me through it and you’ll never get lost again.”

Watch the woman smile
This house was not a white canvas
This house was not a blank slate
But sometimes watching the old and dirty made new
is more magnificent then watching
the “nothing” or the “blank slate” be made into something
Especially when you’re the one inside the house
Keep watching
He’ll be working on that house until it’s a castle




“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity