Last week was one of those weeks.
The kind of week that begins bright and early running out
the door with the dog nonchalantly throwing up on my favorite shoe, just as I was
slipping my foot into it.
The dog never throws up, but there were plenty of reasons for
her to be out of sorts I suppose.
Our life is sort of out-of-sorts. In fact if you were to drop-in you may agree
that things here are nearly at the complete chaos level.
Earlier this year our home was hit by large hail stones.
It was like watching a slow motion scene unfold. The sky was clear with deep blue hues, one hot afternoon. I was home, and just happened to be looking out the double wide glass door that faces east, when a small cloud gathered overhead. I stepped out on the back porch and took a few pictures as this harmless appearing cloud, began to swell up with ominous dark bellows.
It was like watching a slow motion scene unfold. The sky was clear with deep blue hues, one hot afternoon. I was home, and just happened to be looking out the double wide glass door that faces east, when a small cloud gathered overhead. I stepped out on the back porch and took a few pictures as this harmless appearing cloud, began to swell up with ominous dark bellows.
Still, I was honestly surprised that this small mass of moisture
began to produce colossal ice missiles a little smaller than baseballs that
sounded more like bowling balls being hurled at our home. Once the storm had passed
over the house, the winds changed and it came back around from the other
direction and pounded us with even more intensity on the second pass. When it moved out, our yard had visible divots
and was covered with a blanket of white ice balls. The damage to our
home was extensive.
It totaled the roof, broke windows, damaged siding, gutters
and soffits. There was more, but you get
the idea.
Fast forward to, now.
The now, with the dog and my favorite shoes. And trust me, you
need shoes to walk outside because of all the nails and shards of metal.
The details have been worked out and the contractors are on
the scene and all the layers that make a house a home have been stripped away
and hauled off to the landfill.
When it was all peeled back, we uncovered all sorts of
problems that had been hidden for years.
Issues that someone long ago hid, and that time had further corrupted.
It has gotten more complicated and messy than we had anticipated. (And we had anticipated it would be messy and complicated.)
Issues that someone long ago hid, and that time had further corrupted.
It has gotten more complicated and messy than we had anticipated. (And we had anticipated it would be messy and complicated.)
The outside of our home is exposed down to bare wood and the
inside has been stripped out as well because that is how it is when change
comes. True change always happens from
the inside out.
And this morning, the wind is howling and slapping loose
ends of house wrap against roughed in windows and there is little to stop the cutting
wind from seeping through every crack.
We are going for an all new look. Part of that currently
includes fly strips. I've distracted
myself for days smashing flies that seem to have a radar for any opening. We even
went to the store to purchase more flyswatters, so we could have one in every
room. One for every person who might enter this place.
My disdain for flies has increased after my daughter
reminded me of when she worked for the University for several summers helping to
track flies. People actually get paid to breed files, paint their little wings
and track their patterns. There is a story there that no one probably wants to
read about. She pointed out that her job included examining flies under a microscope
and how many parasites are surprisingly on the common house fly.
That information wasn't really helpful.
In fact it may have raised my anxiety level a few decimals.
In fact it may have raised my anxiety level a few decimals.
So, fly strips hang until further notice and if you come
here you may be handed your own fly-swatter.
This process has reminded me how fragile our lives and possessions
really are.
One small cloud pops up on the horizon and alters your life
for months. And that is the good news. This house and its contents are not the
things that are most valuable in my world. Also we are honestly thankful that
this has been an opportunity, disgusting flies aside, to find the deeper hidden
problems this existing structure had, so that we could address them.
That right there will teach friends.
Just because we can put on a few layers over
the underlying problems, things will continue to slowly eroding in our lives. Ignoring the problems will not
fix them, or us.
The process of stripping away the layers, makes us feel a
bit vulnerable and exposed. However, the benefits of dealing with deep seated problems are long reaching friends.
And I was thinking how during the ugly process I don’t
really want my friends to enter into the mess and that after all this chaos is
neatly wrapped up and the professionals all go on to their next job, we would
begin gathering friends into our home again.
This weekend I think God, struck down thought.
It is as if the Lord has been pressing on my heart that now
is the time to invite people in.
Now.
While things are just the way they are. After all, the goal
of having a home is to live and the idea of inviting people into our homes is
to share life. What are these homes for
if not to extend hospitality to others?
Shauna Niequist recently shared a story, of how at one time, homes
were designed with a private area for families in the back and the front room
was where the dead were put so people could come pay their respects. After funeral
homes became common, theses rooms were renamed, “living rooms,” because they
were no longer for the dead.
Don’t you love that?
Our homes are for the living, for the sharing, for the gathering of people.
Don’t you love that?
Our homes are for the living, for the sharing, for the gathering of people.
There are so many things that this house project is teaching
me, revealing in me. Peeling back the layers of long established veneer has made
our home a more solid building. And that applies to my heart as well. Reevaluating my motives for inviting people into my home and has brought a fresh energy to gather people
around me.
Never mind, my messy home, completely, incomplete with daily
disinfected counters and too much dog hair. There is really no better time to
invite you over, since there all the outer layers of pretense have literally been
stripped away.
Our house is only a tool to real life living and people are
what make a house into home.
How about you?
Have you had a small thing turn into a huge thing?
What do you do, when you feel exposed?
Is your home a place for the living?
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