"Imagine youself 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 decent little cottage: but He is building a palace." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 174.
Don't we sometimes just want to be a decent little cottage! I do, it really hurts--those trials, the pain and suffering. When I pray I even say, "Thank you Lord. I am happy and healthy, I don't want to really be rebuilt, I don't think I'm up to it...everything is just fine." But, wham-mo...the battering ram swings around and knocks me flat. At times I even wonder how I am able to get back up; but, somehow I do. Somehow He knows I will--that I will plug forward again, building a new wing where I didn't think it was possible, adding that extra floor when I didn't know I needed one, running up a new tall tower of strength, filling my new courtyard with joy. So...don't you ever wonder WHEN the palace will be finished AND what it will look like? I do...I think He must know a whole lot more than me!
oh boy oh boy do i ever know what it's like to HATE the process of becoming a mansion! quite honestly, we can never fully appreciate the grandeur of what we're becoming until we take the time to step back a little and take it all in. because, i never can appreciate just my little bathroom... even if it is a cool bathroom. :) but when i see that i am so much more than that little room i've been worrying about for so long, i see the wisdom.
ReplyDeleteI really like this metaphor
ReplyDelete