Last April we started on a minor kitchen renovation. Two years ago we replaced worn out flooring, and replaced or repaired some furniture pieces and rearranged the living room a bit. That was great. It needed to be done.
But!
It was Kitchen Time! It had been Kitchen Time for years! New countertops, sink, faucet, backsplash. Even though we’re still working on the details, all the scattered things are mostly back in order – temporary tables put away, sink and faucet installed with coffee pot handy again, and smooth countertops neatly covering their rough wood base.
Although it takes time, I love this kind of stuff. It’s the vision of, and the bringing forth of, a transformation. I imagine that the Lord views me with the same enthusiasm. Though perhaps, with greater patience. Which eludes me much of the time.
I recall one particular day, even though I called upon every ounce of my little bitty mustard seed of patience and faith, I was over it. Then I noticed, from my couch perspective, that just over the top of the mess piled up on the dining room table, out the dining room window, I saw my beautiful rhododendron in full glorious, deep pink bloom, illuminating the end of the tunnel.
I’m very much looking forward to realizing the vision I see in my mind. Experiencing the different details and textures, noticing how all my choices work together. Hopefully, they’ll all be friends and play well together – like the Lord dreams of us, His children, playing nicely together.
When that day arrives and I can say my kitchen home is complete, I imagine it will be just a shadow of the day when I’m all done in this messy, incomplete, wilderness displacement, that I can unpack not just my things, but more importantly, my heart, for good and forever, in my real forever home, Israel.
The Lord declared, “Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15, NKJV).
Candi Runyon
BYNA Strategic Prayer Director
