The Carpenter

 For the later part of June, I had been working on my son’s wood loft bed. I received the wood from my father in law, who put the work into taking apart an old abandoned house that was gifted to him, to use for parts. I only needed to take out the staples and nails, cut to size for the first part of my project. When I started sanding the wood down, to refine it, I could not help but think about
Ezekiel 36:26 "and I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." and Jeremiah 29:11 "for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good and not of disaster. To give you a future and a hope."
This is how Jesus works to refine our hearts. It takes time, sweat and tears. Each rough spot he smooth’s out is from another part of our old self. A sinful past. He leaves behind the new, soft and beautiful exposed part that was always there. It just needed some tender loving care to reveal it. This takes discipline on our part to learn of Gods will by reading the Word. This takes action, patience & discipline, mercy and grace. Action from ourselves to remove our old habits and replace with new ones like it says in
Colossians 3:12 clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility gentleness and patience. Patience with ourselves to understand we won’t change everything about ourselves the moment we ask Jesus to be our saviour. Discipline to do the work of reading and learning about Jesus and Gods word. Gentle mercy from God to be lovingly patient with us, while we work through the tough stuff. Grace from God as he removes our rough exterior to show our beautiful and smooth interior with our individual intricate design of how He made us all so different. Like my experience with completing my first wood building project, God can bring us from a heap of abandoned wood to a beautiful new bed, with a purpose of comfort, love and protection. All we have to do, is let Him be our carpenter in our own lives.

~ Meagan Renaud ~