Unless the Lord builds the house...

Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a girl with a plan. It was a good plan…a plan for a house. No, not a house, a home. She spent hours going through the rooms in her mind, decorating them, picturing herself in them, imagining what the breeze would feel like as she sat on her porch with her man looking out over children playing the yard. She planned everything down to the last detail and sketched it out as meticulously as any blueprint.

Just like any construction, there were goals and deadlines and severe attention to detail…and when those deadlines weren’t met, they were rescheduled. When the plans didn’t work out, they were re-drawn. Over and again the house was redesigned, timelines revamped…yet still she insisted the plan was good though it had to be reworked every so often.

For many years she held tightly to her set of plans, worn and tattered from all of the amendments. Then she met the Master Builder and he offered a better plan…one that would not require constant revisions…one that would actually come into being. She resisted…all she’d ever had was this plan. She knew it so well and had spent so much time in the rooms of this dream home…she couldn’t just give it up.

It took a while and the Master Builder was patient…but persistent. Time after time He watched as she tried to start building her home, only to stop and revise. He could see her despair and frustration…he could also see something she couldn’t…that she labored in vain. But she was determined to accomplish this goal, so she would redraw, reschedule and begin again. Over time, though, after many, many disappointments and revisions, the home of her dreams began to lose its savor.

Then, finally, she relented, and handed her plans to the Master Builder. She expected Him to unfold His plans before her and explain in detail how they were far superior to her own. But He didn’t. He only assured her that He did have a plan and that it was good…perfect. She must wait and trust…and learn all she could about caring for what He was preparing. Though, at times, she could hear the sounds of construction, she never saw anything actually built. But somehow the sound, and the promise of the Master Builder, were enough…and she waited…and trusted…and tried to learn what she could.

And she waits still… This story doesn’t end with a happily ever after and a picture of the girl on the porch of her home watching her children play…that home has not been build yet. But it does end with hope…and faith that what the Master Builder promised will come to pass…and it will be good…perfect…better than any version of her dream home ever was.