Building Dreams, One Board at a Time

I have been gifted with the house my Dad built. It was his dream that this would be home for his family, filled with love and laughter and be enjoyed by many generations. There have been four generations to date who have lived in this house and Mark and I will return here when we retire. Our dream is to build on what was given us.

With that in mind, every summer we take on a small project that will improve and renew this space. This year it was to redo an upstairs room. We purchased the pine for the walls, the strapping to frame things up and the tools that would facilitate the building – nails, saw, hammer, cutter, measuring tape, pencil. Then the work began. Measure, mark, cut, nail – repeat. There were a few mistakes along the way and the finished project is not perfect but it is exactly what we wanted and we saw that it was good.

Our faith journey, I think, is very much like this. We have been given a gift, handed down through the generations. It is a place and a dream of a world where love, laughter, belonging, compassion, justice and care are the order of the day. The foundation was laid by the ancient ones, built on and firmed up by Jesus and every generation since has been entrusted with its continued care. We make mistakes along the way and things are not always perfect. However, as it was in the beginning so is it now

“and God saw that it was good”.

If we acquire the materials and gather the tools, we too can continue to build something amazing – one board, one nail at a time. The author of Ecclesiastes reminds us

“we are meant to eat and drink and take pleasure from all our toil, for this is God’s gift to us”.

As we move into a new season it is my prayer that we will build on what has been entrusted to us, within and beyond the walls of our church; that we will work together to live out the gospel in this place; and that we will continue to build something that is home to generations yet to come.

May it be so.

Blessings
Valerie