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My husband has become a weekend “tinkerer “ lately and I thought he would appreciate having his tools near him on the carport so he would not have to keep going in and out of the house. Plus his tools were taking up much needed space in our already crammed utility room, so yes, a little selfish motivation on my part! I decided I would get him a brand new tool cabinet and surprise him with it while he was out of town.
My husband left town and then life got crazy! We were in the midst of our fall share-a-thon, so my work days were a little longer than usual. No problem, we would just do pizza for dinner. But then a sick kid, then some home repair issues, and then the death of a family member; a few other events as well. It was one of those weeks where I was like, “what’s next?” I really had a heavy heart, but you just gotta push through. Stuff happens and life goes on. I actually was somewhat relieved when I got the call the cabinet I had ordered was in and I could go pick it up. I was glad to have a project to take my mind off of all the “other stuff.”
So, all goes well, I have the unassembled cabinet loaded in my car then I’m good to go! I get home, put on some worship music and decide to get started. So, 1st clue that this project was going to be a challenge is that I couldn’t even get the box out of my car! I decided to open the box and remove contents from my car piece by piece. Once I had all of the parts and pieces of the cabinet layed out, they took over my entire carport! I was immediately overwhelmed and filled with a sense of completely being out of my league! Then grabbing the instruction booklet, the bag of 1000 screws ripped and went all over the place! Now I cried! I just looked at the mess of this cabinet and the pieces everywhere and felt like this is how I felt about my life at that current moment. Parts and pieces. Unfinished and in chaos. I remember hearing the song “Build My Life” by Pat Barrett playing and the part where he sings:
“And I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation And I will put my trust in you alone And I will not be shaken”
These words hit me in the gut! I was letting the storms I was dealing with shake me, I was not trusting God. That’s just it, I was dealing with them and not giving them to God, that’s why I was so overwhelmed!!!
So, I dried my tears and decided I would finish this project (Actually, I Really HAD to). I couldn’t leave everything all over the place! So, I start with step 1 and so on… Along the way listening to worship and praising God. In the midst of doing this project God showed me this amazing analogy of how we can build our lives. Much like this cabinet, there are steps to follow for the project to be completed well. You can’t skip steps or go out of order or things don’t fit right. If you try, you will have to “Do Over.” It’s also nice that you get a picture of the completed project. I found myself focusing on that and not thinking too much on the hundred steps to get there. I just embraced each step one by one. 3 hours later and project complete along with me being completely refreshed and renewed! My heart was so full at that moment, not because of the finished project, but because I put my trust in God and had Peace knowing He was handling every part and piece in my life!
God gives us an instruction book for our lives; the Bible. We not only get the steps, we get the final picture as well, which is eternity with Him! If you feel like your life looks like parts and pieces or is in chaos, take the 1st step and read your Bible today. Just stick to the “manual”/Bible during those chaotic times and the completed project of YOU will be much easier to see if you can focus on the finish.