IT'S YOUR HOUSE, SO BUILD WISELY!

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire.  He told his employer, a building contractor, of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife and family.  He would miss the paycheck, but he desperately needed to retire.  They would get by.

His employer was very sorry to see such a good worker leaving the business and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor to him.  The carpenter said “yes,” but his heart was no longer in his work.  He lost his enthusiasm and resorted to shoddy workmanship and inferior materials.  It was an unfortunate way to end a truly productive career.

When the carpenter finished his work and his boss came to inspect the new house, the contractor handed the front door key to the carpenter.  “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to a wonderful employee!”

What a shock and what a shame!  If that carpenter had only known he was building his own house, he would have constructed it very differently.  Now he had to spend his retirement years in an edifice he had built none too well.

So it is with us.  We build our lives in rather distracted ways, reacting rather than acting, often willing to give (and accept) far less than our best.  At important points, we do not invest maximum effort.  Then, with ironic shock, we look at situations we have created and find we now live in houses we have built for ourselves.  If we had only realized, if we only been wide awake, we would have done it all quite differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter.  Think about your house.  Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall.  Build wisely.  It is the only life you will ever build.  Even if you live in it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived with growing godliness and grace.  Consider this.  Your life today is the result of attitudes and choices in your past.  And your life tomorrow will be the result of the attitudes and actions you exemplify today.  In the words of the prophet Haggai…:

Haggai 1:7-8

⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

⁸ Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

Sisters and brothers, you and I are temples of God, so we belong exclusively to Him. (I Corinthians 6:19)  To wit, all of us are issued a divine directive to “take heed how” we are building. (I Corinthians 3:10)  As we traverse the days of our lives, let us maintain a heavenly focus and resolve to build wisely so that we (and everyone around us) will be continually blessed!