Under Construction

It feels like the new website design has been under construction “forever.” Of course, this is not true at all, and every professional with whom I work has paid close attention to detail and has worked with care to ensure the new site – and everything that accompanies it – is beautifully flawless. Moreover, I am grateful for their work and wisdom and for the love and care they have put into helping me.

This time of being “under construction” has been anything but static. I felt like I had a bulldozer constantly grabbing up my writing, photos, and ideas and placing them into a cement mixer to toss them around. I just waited at the trough to see what would come out of that mixer!

Constant Reconstruction

Recently, a neighborhood church was also “under construction.” The picture of the modern construction equipment and the longstanding old church was a good reminder for my life, my business and my faith. We are all constantly “under construction,” aren’t we? Our lives change: people, jobs, homes all come and go. With any luck, and a fair amount of grace, change beckons us toward a future full of possibilities and abundance. We grow through change. We are strengthened and given the gifts of perseverance and hope through the changes and challenges we face.

For the Love of Change

Even more, we develop deeper and greater love through the growth that sprouts forth through change. When faced with change, we also face the challenge of remaining steadfast in our love for those around us. Sometimes change makes us keenly aware of how difficult every day love can be, but sometimes change helps us to put on our “hard hats” and reconstruct love in new and fresh ways. Change gives us the opportunity to line up our actions and with the love, grace, and abundance we want for our lives.

You may have heard it said that love is patient and kind, that it doesn’t envy or boast, it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, it isn’t proud, self-seeking or easily angered.[1] This is a beautiful image of the abundance of love that we can have in our lives. But to have this, our actions must line up with these principles. That’s where the work of love lies! For me, that means daily reconstruction to make my heart align with my actions, and to come back again and again to the abundant love I desire in my life. It means coming back to the actions of love daily – protecting, hoping, trusting, persevering… And it means embracing change when change comes and especially when it’s due.

Construction “Work”

In one week’s time the little neighborhood church that was under construction had all of its pavé stones taken up. They were set aside while the work was being done, and then replaced in striking perfect rows. Walking by today, you would never know the attractively arranged stone rows were in piles the week before. You wouldn’t know that the ground had been dug up and over turned. You would simply see the picturesque church and the perfect pavé rows.

Sometimes that’s how it is when we are “under construction.” The hardest work is deep down, on the inside; it can’t be easily seen by the world. Yet, it is this hard inside work that has the potential to grow and change us the most. Being “under construction” is anything but easy, but it’s when we are renovated completely that we are perfectly completed. It is here that we are most ruffled by grace, and it is here where abundance and love are found.

[1] See 1 Corinthians 13.

 

Read more about Rev. Wahila here.

Read 1 Corinthians 13 here.