Home Improvements

Photo courtesy of Country Living

As the weather has been so dry, we have taken the opportunity to finish installing the floor in the living room. Because I was buying a box of flooring every now and then and storing it in the shed until I could get enough to complete the job, I misplaced the boxes for a couple of years. Other people had stored things in front of it and it got lost.

As things would go, the company that made that particular color and design of flooring has discontinued the pattern, and I was one box short of the boards reaching the entire floor. Today we are getting another box of a slightly different kind and color, but hopefully the the old couch and the old piano will cover up the discrepancy. In an old house that is disintegrating, who minds if the floor boards do not match?! As Lord Cumnor said "For that matter, who minds anythin'? It is not as if we were going to a funeral!" This was followed by a hearty laugh.(Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell)

Photo courtesy of Country Living

Photo courtesy of Country Living. This is the closest to the way my living room will look when the project is completed.

You can see here how we are "living" in the living room.

The furniture has been moved out into the big tent. I will get it all arranged properly and then have a morning tea there and post pictures.

I used the old carpet that was taken out of the living room and put in the tent. Things will look better soon. In upheavals like this I make a point of keeping the kitchen cleaned up and the laundry caught up. I can control the "food and raiment" part. That aids in contentment.

The two shades of flooring, above. We still have to put on the trim around the edges.

A lot of things are in the hall and it is a tight squeeze to get to the bedrooms and bathroom but the trauma should be over in about a week if I last that long :-)

The garden is improving. This pink impatient is making everything more full and colorful.

As I have been entertaining some thoughts about contentment, I will continue with the subject. It is very easy to lapse into discouragement when there are changes, especially sudden changes like relocating or tearing up the inside of a house in order to add improvements. Yet the Christian is admonished to be patient and content. How can that be possible, especially when a lady is wanting peace and order?

Everyone that has this experience has developed their own way of dealing with it. For myself, I find it enormously helpful to read these verses:

Heb 13:5    Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1Ti 6:6    But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7    For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8    And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Control what you can, and leave the other things alone. Keeping the kitchen clean and meals provided, sometimes sending out for fast food, helps. We cannot use the tables but we can go outside to eat. That is what I call "eating out." Keeping the laundry caught up is something I can control.

Last week there were 13 ladies in the Ladies Bible Class, where we read more about Abraham. He was a tent-dweller who packed up and moved often. His was the first edition of the modern motor-home. He was very rich with gold and silver and other precious treasures, as well as in flocks and livestock, so you can imagine how much weight he had to pack, and how slow the move would be.

All he and Sarah's household was packed up and put on camels, and tents were folded up when they got ready to move again. When they arrived, their house was unpacked and the furnishings and kitchen things were arranged again in the tents. So if you think you have trauma in your life, think of Abraham and his constant moving. He did not always know ahead of time the exact location of his next move, but he had faith. That is what faith is all about. It would not be faith if we knew exactly how things will be, down to the last detail.

Heb 11:8    By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:9    By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10    For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Christians, wherever they are, belong to a different kingdom with different foundations; spiritual ones. So, whatever situation they are in, they have a better king, a better citizenship, a better home.

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