Open During Construction

A few years ago, I remember driving along a long stretch of road and seeing a business that had the appearance of undergoing some renovations. If you’ve ever seen something like that, it can vary from minor signs of work to almost looking like the building was demolished while crews work on rebuilding, fortifying, and even beautifying the place. It was clear that changes were underway. While I took in that scene, I saw a sign on the building. “Open During Construction” When I saw it, I was struck by how much the sign seemed to resonate with my life. That business looked like utter chaos and yet, changes for the better were happening. It was still open for business. Even though it appeared the opposite should have been true. Open During Construction. That sign stuck with me ever since. 

Sometime last year, I saw it again in the form of “Open During Renovations” as my local supermarket underwent some changes. Each time I see some iteration of that sign, it gives me the same reflective pause. I mentioned the sign resonating, even today. That’s because I feel that when we take a step toward a faith-fueled life, we are in the beginning stages of our own renovation. Being made new. While we still exist and walk around doing our daily essentials, there are some renovations, some changes, happening on the inside. Sometimes, those changes aren’t immediately evident. In fact, our exterior can have that “under construction” appearance. The same can be said of lifestyle habits that haven’t let go of us yet. All the while, the changes that are churning on the inside of us are going to have lasting long-term results that are for the better. But it has to have a beginning. That’s the difficulty for some. The beginning stages of the change don’t always look pretty or like much progress is even being made.

One of the facilities at my organization just underwent a similar renovation. Plumbing fixture upgrades and other structural fixes to the building were necessary to ensure we had a sound structure that customers were entering. The nature of the project caused the facility to be closed for a period of time. When it reopened, many of the customers that used the space were a little disappointed. Mainly because it looked the same. They wanted to see some physical evidence of why the building needed to be closed for so long. Sometimes, that’s the nature of the very life that we live. People around us want to see some sort of physical change that illustrates our internal one. The truth is, whether we see something or not doesn’t make it any less essential. Facilities need functional…facilities. We take that for granted sometimes as we don’t always see the working pipes. We just assume they are functional. 

That’s how we are treated by others. It’s not until our shortcomings are exposed that others begin to strip us bare and tear us apart. That’s usually when others begin to insist that you make some changes. Yet, they don’t always support it when the process begins. That is why our choice to live a life of faith has to be exactly that. Our choice. When there is a change that you back, you invest in it. When we choose Christ, that is exactly what we are doing. We are investing in our spiritual growth. So even though the renovation that we undergo spiritually might not be glamorous and it may not even result in a physical change to our exterior, our internal makeup is brand new. And that makes the final result worth the wait.

Stay Sunny!

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