December 30 – “Return of the Claw”

Today I "cleaned house."  Chris went to Bay City to take her Mom to a surgery appointment, so I decided to sweep.  Now "sweep" didn't mean just a quick once-over and done.  The floor was still covered in places with the dreaded insulation, so the sweep promised to be a chore.  I wasn't disappointed.  It took all morning to get the floors all swept.  I don't know how many times I had to go back over an area I had already done.  Insulation has quite a sense of humor.  Ha. Ha.    Once I got the place swept I spent a few minutes "decorating."  I put all the tools in the garage.  I set up the table and chairs in my "office."  (come visit me sometime).  There is still some salvage stuff in the family room.  I'll have to move that, too, though, before I can make my attempt to scrape that tile up.  Maybe when the real work kicks in that chore will kind of disappear in the mayhem of construction.  Speaking of scraping, I got started on scraping the tar off the floor of our bedroom – the last one.  Gonna take awhile.   While I was sweeping the garage the Claw drove up.  I was really surprised to see it, since we just piled up what was left of the tree yesterday.  But there it was in all its Claw-ness, eating up the piles of limbs.  You know, it was strange how drastically different I felt from the last time I leaned against my garage door and watched the Claw at work.  Back then I was watching it devour Chris' piano, my books, our clothes, our Christmas tree, our … collection of life memories.  Now it was just a huge pile of firewood.  Then I was stricken with all kinds of conflicting emotions.  Today there was just a simple wonder at the hugeness of the machine and the intricacy of the internal mechanism that controls its movements.  Then I couldn't take my eyes off the stuff being loaded.  Today I noticed the driver who was also the Claw operator.  And the guy on the ground with a pitchfork who makes the piles easier for the Claw to reach.    I think there was a perspective issue involved.  Back then I was mired in the midst of circumstances that had stripped every semblance of control over my life that I thought I had.  Those circumstances were controlling what I saw and what I felt.  My emotions had taken over.  Today, though, I was able to see with a different perspective.  Today I know that my house will eventually be rebuilt.  I have accepted the loss of all the "stuff" we used to have, and I even look forward a little bit to getting some new stuff.     Kind of like where we all stand spiritually.  As believers we have the access to look at circumstances using God's perspective.  Changes everything.   Ephesians 2:6 says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus."  Quite a perspective.   Father, please keep your perspective in front of us.  We keep slipping. Amen.