Going down the same road with different scenery...

Not far from my home on the way to a friend's house there is a major intersection that has recently changed drastically.  The city is preparing to widen the road and the corner's landscape has been altered to accommodate the wider road and a new business development. It used to be as you approached this intersection going west that the hillside before you was covered in trees that hid the homes from the busy hwy. Well now the hillside is bare and the homes are skeletons marked by the fire department for practice use ( my children thought this was very cool that they would burn down a house just for practice. "Momma - can we come and watch when they practice?" ).  The road continues west and looks very different due to the construction preparations... It is going down the same road with different scenery. I feel this way each time I drive through this area. The vast changes shock me. Because I am not there on a daily basis I am not accustomed to the changes. Since those changes are on going I cannot get used to them. It is almost painful to me,  seeing the doomed houses on the bare hillside. I have a picture of how it should look painted in my mind. My mind picture still has the thick trees and underbrush. It bothers me when I see the difference. I am guessing it will bother me until the changes are finished and I can grow accustomed to the new vista of this place... until I can repaint my mind picture.

   This imagery makes me think of how often we live with something the way it is because we don't want to deal with the upheaval that goes with changing. A squeaky door, an ugly paint color, a crowded overflowing closet... we leave them because initially a greater "mess" will be created in the fixing of the problem. I have been occasionally working on the closet in our guest room. This space had become my general storage for "all that I didn't want to part with yet had no immediate use for" items. There are some memories in there and some junk. OK - lots of junk. The Admiral keeps telling me to go away for the weekend and He will take care of it. *wink*  Ummm...No. So I pile stuff on the bed, trying to decide what to do with this stuff and inevitably someone comes to stay the night and I throw it all back into the closet. I lose sight of that future picture I have for that room, staying contented with it the way it is and the closet curtain pulled shut. Then Love Bug says "are we moving to our new room soon?" with all the excited hopefulness that only a super dramatic 6 year old can unleash. OH. The vision - a bright yellow room with butterflies and each girl with her own space.... a vision that requires the closet be cleaned out... so the drywall can be hung... so the walls can be painted.... so the butterflies can take flight from my imagination...WHAT FUN!  But to paint that picture permanently I have to go down the same road and change the scenery.  I have to choose the temporary chaos to bring forth my new idea, though the interim is irritating, inconvenient and painful.

     Are you hanging on to a mind picture of what was? Are you willing to do the work, endure the changes, and move forward to what could be?

Lord, Help me to buckle down and change the scenery of my road, not just my physical road but also my spiritual one. You are the Master contractor and the artist. Help me to trust you.