Renovated

Then the one sitting on the throne said: I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted. – Revelation 21:5 (CEV) 

After buying her house, my friend’s dad came into town to renovate her space to better fit her family’s needs. The most obvious renovation was the gigantic hole he put in the wall between the dining area and the kitchen to create a wider passageway to improve the layout’s flow.  

He exposed the wall’s ribs and the tendon-like electrical wires going through the space, increasing the dust and particles of wall littering the floor as more light made its way through the space that once was a wall. Even with a protective tarp on the ground and the doors to the other rooms closed, the mess was spreading everywhere in whatever way it pleased. The slow progress left my friend anxiously wondering if this was a mistake. 

Years later, she knows it was absolutely the right decision. I learned two main things about the whole process. One: even in its most disheveled state, her dad was demolishing bits of what used to be and moving toward a new vision of something better. Two: even as the walls came down, the integrity of the house remained intact and the structure stood firmly in place. 

And so it is as people called to follow Christ. Our familiar walls must come down, sometimes with uncomfortable amounts of mess and anxiety. Rest assured! We’re making space for God’s vision. We can trust the integrity of that vision to sustain us through the thickest dust and uncertainty. 

Prayer
Renovate our hearts, minds and spirits, Creative One, so that we may transform into the people you would have us be. Amen.

About the Author
Phiwa Langeni creatively invites others into transformational liminal spaces between what has been and what is yet to be. They currently serve as the Associate Conference Minister for Equipping Leaders in the Southern California Nevada Conference UCC.