Building a room....

   Let's talk construction.
   I know so many of us have done it...and why? To build a room. To make a place for people we love. Or to fix something because it's rotted or broken, or eaten by termites.
   It's always a shock to me when someone says, "We are redoing our house and we don't have a kitchen right now. We haven't had one for two months." Maybe you are chuckling to yourself or even rolling your eyes because you can remember when this was your story.
   It doesn't matter the reason for construction, people who do it are willing to give up self comfort and sacrifice their life for a couple days, or a long time. Even the most selfish, spoiled, and entitled folks are willing to give up their comfort to remodel. To make a room.

   Turns out, God Himself knows something about making a room. John 14:2 says, "My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you?"

   Sometimes when I interact with folks about heaven, we joke about what we will have there, in our very special room. My husband says that in his room there will be a weightless basketball court. In my room there is going to be a full gourmet kitchen and I'm going to help God cook the great banquet along with all of my favorite Food Network chefs. I've heard people say their rooms are going to be all pink or stuffed with a bunch of pillows.
   I always have thought of that room in heaven as my own special place full of things just for me. Luxuries or things that are personal because God knows me by name. But what if it's deeper than that?

   As some of you know, my inlaws are living downstairs while we are preparing a place for them upstairs. We are transforming our garage into a room that is theirs. It's a process that has caused me to reflect on what's true about this very special place God is building for us. It's a sacrifice to build. It's costing us money and time. Things aren't going the way we want. It has taken a year longer than expected. My inlaws are living underneath us and enduring lots of footsteps over their heads. And why is it that when someone lives underneath you THAT'S when you drop things over and over? When you are building, you need help and it's humbling to ask for things when you can't do it yourself.
   The other day I said to maw before she went downstairs, "I love you and I like living with you!" and to that she replied, "Somedays are better than others! Praise God!" and I laughed. It's so true. Sometimes I think this time of waiting for this new room, and living together, is harder for them than it is for us. They have had to move away from their friends and home church and years of building a life. They live in a house with different foods and different systems and different social life and different ways of spending time and money. There are plenty of times for all of us to practice patience. And it's vulnerable. They are doing their marriage in front of us, and we are parenting in front of them. There are days that the kids throw huge fits and stomp their feet hard and go screaming into their bedrooms which are right above the inlaw's heads.
   And yet.....there is always a yet isn't there? Something else is happening to us as well. We have markings of love all around our house. When I go downstairs there are cards that we have given each other. Little things the kids have made for maw and paw. When I go downstairs I also see things they have made for each other. Presents and things that mean a lot to them. I have pictures and videos of paw and I on facebook and little jokes that just he and I understand.. When I go into my kitchen I rarely have a dirty dish because maw often will do them. When I put my dirty clothes downstairs, they magically appear upstairs all cleaned and ready for me to put away.
   A room is marked with the relationships that we are in. The deeper the sacrifice we have for each other, the deeper the room is marked.
  
 
    Matthew 25:34-40 says, "Then the King will say to the people on his right, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.' The righteous will then answer him, 'When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me!'"
   I read this on the day there were nails being pounding in the garage and I closed my eyes and pictured God himself pounding nails into the room he is preparing for me. As I saw him building, I didn't picture a gourmet kitchen or a special color that he would paint, but I pictured Jesus making a scrapbook about the memories I'm making right now with him. That made me teary a bit I have to admit. I said in my heart, "I know you God!" I imagined pictures on the wall of the least that I have loved. I imagined trophies that might be in there from God for the times that I chose to confront those who hurt me and those I had hurt. And if you have read my other blogs you will understand that those trophies had a bird hanging by the nerve.  I imagined a plaque on the wall of names. The names of people who had forgiven me and the names of people I had forgiven. I heard a music box that was playing the melody Jesus sang over me when I went through my dark times. There were holograms of the angels that had been watching over me. The room was less about all of the things that are physically specially to me, but a way for God to communicate to me how proud he is that I'm his daughter. And just as a parent have a baby book of their kids first steps, so I imagined a book of my first steps of faith. Little things I did when I started to risk. A book of firsts....first bible studies that I was terrified to lead....first people I attempted to share my faith with....first yes to a mission trip I didn't have the money for.
   What a beautiful picture that was for me. To spend time in the memories that me and Jesus were making together was a meaningful time. A sweet time.
  
  What about your room? Is it full of memories yet? What does this image bring to mind for you and your room? Maybe your book of firsts is being written right now. Maybe you're getting to know Jesus for the first time. Maybe you have sacrificed a ton and it's refreshing to picture how proud of you Jesus is that you are his son or daughter. Building memories with Jesus isn't the physical sacrifice of pounding nails, but it's a sacrifice of loving when it's hard. Forgiving when it hurts. And going when he calls you even if you don't feel good or have the money.
   A room is marked by our relationships....
   Over my desk I have a big piece of paper that my maw gave me with my name on it. She wrote a bunch of words that describe me on it. Things that are "wendy." Here's the list that she wrote:
Child of God
Funny
Does not carry a grudge
Creative cook
Desires to see everyone whole
Deep thinker
Every year you get more interesting and better!
Gives herself grace
Forgiving
Wendy/Jesus/Don a chord of three is not easily broken
Earnestly seeks God's presence
Compassionate
Allows her household to be transformed to a new normal so Buzz and Nancy can experience God's unconditional love.
Enjoys her family
Keeps secrets
Her actions glorify God Discerning
Admits when she is wrong
An honest friend
Enjoys cuddling with her children
Cares for her children as God cares for his children
Prayer/Intercessor
Forgets what is behind and follows the light
Is surprising
Good listener
Always willing to help
She is a giver  
  
   Do you know what it meant to read this list from her? She knows me. She sees me and loves me and wrote these words because she wanted me to celebrate me. Can you imagine what it's going to be like....when we walk to the place that God is preparing, and see our name on that door? To see the words written underneath it that he speaks about me....about you? What will be inside the room that will express our time together here? What little things will he put in that room that will communicate how proud he is of you.
   It's worth the sacrifice......building a room.