I think I'm in need of serious re-wiring

"the heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately wicked"

Jeremiah 17:9

We had a nice slow day today... rain and relaxation.  One of my favorite combinations, since snow is not gonna happen around here.

So I watched a little TV this morning ~ one of those home improvement shows.  Man, there's a plethora of these, isn't there?  In this one, the couple was having their basement remodeled, in order to accommodate a renter.  So the construction guys knocked down a wall, or ripped up the floor, whatever they were doing, when they discovered the wiring was done wrong.  Illegally done.  At first they thought it was just in one place, but the more they looked, the more discovered that was wrong.  It seems that the last person to make a change in the wiring made improvements only where the wires met the outlets.  So if you removed the outlet, you'd see it done correctly, but only for a few inches.  Deeper into the walls, and through the basement, it was all wrong.   Dangerously wrong.

Of course, this poor couple had no choice but to give the okay for the demo/reno guys (demolition/renovation.  Apparently I'm watching more of these shows than I thought...) to change out all the wiring.  Now, as I said, I don't watch a ton of these shows ~ did I say that?  I thought I did.  Well anyway, I don't.  But it seems like every time I watch one, they get started with the renovation only to discover that there are hidden things wrong.  Mold.  Wiring.  Insulation.  Something that no one knew was wrong, because it wasn't visible.  In some cases these invisible problems had the potential to cause serious problems (like bad wiring causing a fire) and in other cases, they might have already been causing problems (like mold causing allergies, or skimpy insulation increasing heating costs).  And if it weren't for their efforts to improve their homes, these people might never have known there were internal problems.

In a spiritual sense, I find this rather discouraging.  Because the hard-to-deny analogy is that as soon as I try and improve myself in His eyes, I'm gonna look a little deeper, and find something else wrong.  Most likely, something worse.  For instance, let's say I wish it were less important to me to be right when I have a different opinion than the Apple of my Eye.  I pray, and read Scripture wanting to be more successfully submissive ('cause even when the actions are good, the heart is not always.  You know how it is....)  But when I open that door, I find pride at the root of the problem.  That's a harder problem to fix.

Or let's say I'm praying about patience.  The issue at the root of that seemingly shallow problem, is a desire to want my will, in my timing.  The problem is not patience, it's that I don't really mean it when I say "Thy will be done."

The deeper the problem, the harder it is to demolish and renovate.   But doing it right is worth the time.  I'll be a better, stronger, more loving person when I let Him have His way.

~ "Whoever conceals their sins

 does not prosper,

but the one who confesses and renounces them

 finds mercy" ~

Proverbs 28:13