I spent the day today at my church… our youth were there today cleaning for their week of community world changers, one of my daughters being included with them. As they cleaned I put them to work in the children’s area as well. I had them move some things, take down some things, clean some things, throw away some things… and I picked up my paint brush and rollers and started back on the doors of the children’s wings.
As I painted… I listened to the kids running around asking what else could they do? Not once did I hear, when are we done… I only heard I’m done here, is there something else I can do?
As I continued to run my roller of paint over the old wood paneled doors I pondered all that was going on in our church… there were men there working on a bathroom remodel… youth there cleaning out closets and hallways and stairwells, parents there scrubbing the cabinets in the kitchen, the night before I had parents cleaning out the craft storage room, and I have teachers initiating there own remodels in their classrooms… and I was there putting fresh paint on the walls and new paint on old doors…
As I thought on all of this my mind went to what we women do right before we are about to give birth… we “nest”. We begin to clean out the house and rearrange things to make room for the new life that is about to enter this world…
Then my mind went to a Scripture…
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Could it possibly be that we at Shiloh are “nesting”?
Could it possibly be that we are preparing to celebrate a feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth?
Could it possibly be that God is getting us ready to give birth to what many of us have felt stirring in our hearts for years now?
You know, we don’t usually do a complete over-hall in the nesting stage… because we are extremely sentimental as well during this time. It’s not about getting rid of the old… its about fixing what is broken, restoring what is rusted, recovering, reusing, repurposing… making the most of all that we have and treasuring ever bit of it. It’s a time of looking back at where we were… and how far we have come… and knowing we have so much unknown ahead… but we can’t help but be excited as we look forward to it.
A few years ago our church went through a change… we called it Shiloh Reborn. This was a step of faith and obedience for our church… and I believe God has shown us in many ways that it was the right step.
As I pondered nesting, I also pondered another event that the Lord laid on the heart and mind of our Pastor… The Calling.
This will be at our church on Sunday, August 25th beginning with a community breakfast at 9am… it’s an open house of sorts.
One thing that you do before an open house is, yep that’s right, you clean… you fix what is broken, restore what is rusted, recover what is worn, find a new purpose for an old thing… you make the most of all that you have and you invite others to come in and celebrate it all with you.
I don’t know what God is up to… but I can’t help but have a sneaking suspicion that He most definitely is up to something… Curiosity in itself has me looking forward to August 25th… and the days that will follow it.
There is just too much nesting going on for nothing to be up!
All I know is that God is able to make beautiful things out of the dust… out of us… He is the God of rebirth and His house is open to us… and He wants us to come on in and celebrate all that He is and that He was and all that He forever will be!