Everything You Want

We are building a house.  

It is nearing the end stages, and through the process

I have learned things I did not want to learn.

I have learned that in order to build a house, one must become consumed with 

a plethora of choice in things one had never given 

any consideration ,of any kind, to before.

I have learned that the cost of "personalization" stretches far beyond dollars, 

digging into the true treasures of thought, time, and attention.

I have learned that children don't care about back-splashes and floor stains.

I am learning, for instance, that even with a brand new home

perfection is outside of my grip.

"Oh you can make it just like you want it to be!"

No.  No, you really can't.

I don't even know why you can't, but I've tried, and

it's not happening.

The house isn't becoming all that I wish it would be.

And, I think, 

that is how it should be.

What a great test of where your treasure lies!  

What opportunity this house-building-business brings

for training our eternal focus, 

while bringing into clear focus 

our daily need for salvation,

for grace

for Daily Bread.

So here we are transitioning into home-ownership,

and we are blessed to be able to do so, 

and yet

there is nothing fantastic about it,

nothing earth-shattering,

no cause for celebration, 

but just the way we are making our earthly home---

which is, I hope, reflective of our true citizenship in God's kingdom---

but that has nothing to do with renting vs. buying or yellow paint vs.green paint.

Remembering this, I lay down the rest... and perhaps I will have to lay it down again 

and again, and again.

Practice makes perfect.

The habit of kingdom focus is perfect indeed

Praying with The Valley of Vision:

Thou Great I Am,          

Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being

with whom one day is as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day,

A mighty God, who, amidst the lapse of worlds,

and the revolutions of empires,

feels no variableness,

but is glorious in immortality.

May I rejoice that, while men die, The Lord lives;
that, while all creatures are broken reeds
empty cisterns,
fading flowers,
withering grass,
He is the Rock of Ages, the Fountain of living waters.

Turn my heart from vanity,
from dissatisfactions,
from uncertainties of the present state,
to an eternal interest in Christ.

Let me remember that life is short and unforeseen,
and is only an opportunity for usefulness;
Give me a holy avarice to redeem the time,
to awake at every call to charity and piety,
so that I may feed the hungry,
clothe the naked,
instruct the ignorant,
reclaim the vicious,
forgive the offender,
diffuse the gospel,
show neighbourly love to all.

Let me live a life of self-distrust,
dependence on Thyself,
mortification,
crucifixion,
prayer.

Amen.

~ Maria