fix it

A severe, moral wrong has recently swept our world, leaving many confused, conflicted, and searching for answers. This social catastrophe has impacted my life, my world, my home, and after much deliberation and thought I have decided to open up and share my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I anticipate some backlash, unfavorable comments, and loss of friendships, but I must do as I see right and call to repentance the group that has so insensitively hurt and harmed individuals, families, and homes.

Netflix, how dare you take Chip and Joanna Gaines from our lives.

Now that I have that off my chest, I can continue with some thoughts I've had stirring around in my brain since our big move out midwest. And yes, Fixer Upper is my key example in this post and all other aspects of my life.

In this HGTV hit show, a couple helps others turn homes that look like haunted sheds made of cardboard boxes and potato skins into luxurious, envy-inducing abodes. The show's impact has had a broad reach, resulting in every woman now wanting white shiplap somewhere in their home, pilgrimages to Waco, TX becoming more and more mandatory, and all young people having dreams of buying ugly, questionably safe homes. i fall into all of these stereotypes.

Most people are pretty enamored with the concept and content of the show. To see a building that, by all accounts should just be bulldozed over, actually turned into something beautiful is kind of inspiring. Maybe we love this show because we love to see second chances and changes.

Sometimes I think we feel a lot like that shed made of potato skins that has no purpose but to be bulldozed over in order to be replaced by something more grand, more useful, more beautiful. We try to paint over the water marked walls, or deep clean the orange and brown shag carpet. We sweep the very sloped front porch and patch up a foundations that look more like sand than cement. Meanwhile pushing help away saying "No, I can fix this myself. I know how I want it to look and if you get involved then it won't be just how I want it. I have my own vision," as the ceiling collapses behind us. 

But God is the Master Carpenter. He sees our little shacks and starts to make changes - changes that weren't ever part of our vision either. The boy or girl you like doesn't reciprocate, and there goes the carpet. You don't get into the school you were banking on and down comes the railing. Your car breaks down indefinitely and the pool gets filled in. You're a new or seasoned parent with difficult children and the jackhammer is taken to the driveway. You move to Minnesota, away from everyone you love, and all the walls start falling down.

Eventually, little by little, our shacks and lean-tos that we were so protective of, so proud of, become "dream homes" we could never have imagined for ourselves. Perfectly designed, with the best products, they are truly the most functional and beautiful homes we've ever seen. You'd never guess that at one point you wanted to bulldoze it over.

Let Him fix it.

peace
rrww