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starting again


This is one of our guest rooms. It no longer looks like this because I painted 2 of the walls yesterday and did a second coat on them today. It was called "The White Room" by one of our friends because that was all it was...lots of white (and posters of Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix), but after adding a darker comforter and some warm colour called Rosestone on the walls, it promises to be much more inviting.
Despite this house being just over 2 years old, getting it just right has been my ongoing project since we moved in October, 2005. Last summer was spent outside doing the landscaping and lawn and putting up eavestroughs and parging the foundation and painting the deck. This winter we reconfigured the guest bathroom to include a shower and use the space better. Now I am looking to repair all the cracks that have formed as the house settles and use some colour to convert the bedrooms into homey retreats for all who dwell here and all who visit us. And when we finally finish all the projects to make it the home we always wanted, we will probably sell it.
One of the points I remember from the John Wimber teaching DVD we watched last week was how at several times in his life, God asked him to start from the beginning again - new people, new location, new church, new job, new vision. And this is what being a life-long learner looks like. Your goal is not to get everything just right, surround yourself with great people, and then relax. No, building a great community is rather pointless and self-serving if it does not see outside of itself. Part of the beauty of sowing and reaping is that when you give your best away, you are growing something more than you ever could if you kept things to yourself. God set this basic method of multiplication into the very fibre of the earth and mankind, so do not be surprised that after a great harvest of something good in your life, you find yourself at a sort of beginning again, with a tiny seed in your hand and a time of intense work and great joy ahead of you.
My goal is not to end up with the biggest harvest in my storehouse, but to wisely scatter and nurture the seeds God has entrusted me with and be generous with any return that comes back to me.
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