The Desk

I needed a new desk. I should more accurately say I wanted a new desk. I generously donated my old desk to my hubby putting it on the other side of the room in front of the window exactly where he wanted it. He’s got it so good! The move made the needed space for my new desk and the hunt began. I needed to keep within a tight budget so I opted to assemble a million pieces from a box in hopes that it would resemble a useable facsimile of the picture I saw on line.

The exciting day arrived but the box with a million pieces was too heavy for even my very strong sweetheart to manhandle up the stairs so we broke open the box, spilled pieces all over the hallway and began the first of several treks up and down the stairs arms loaded with anything but what appeared to be a desk except for the top and even that could have as easily been a kitchen counter.

Once all the pieces were in our apartment and hubby was dutifully off to work, the time had come for me to start my project. Yes, the first thing I did was read through the instructions thoroughly. I did an inventory of all the parts checking them off to be sure I had what I needed. I cut open the first bag of hardware, read instructions for the first step three times, and began to push twist-lock fasteners into place. The process had begun! I was really doing it! I would learn that the beginning excitement would wear off as the project looked more and more like it should and the more confident I became that what should be a desk, would be.

As I worked carefully through each step of my project, the thought occurred to me that I needed to have a good deal of trust in myself and in the manufacturer that the skills I had and the pieces I bought would somehow work together for the intended plan of a smaller but more appropriate desk for me. I tried meticulously to follow every detail of every instruction in order to avoid the pitfalls of some of the reviews I had read. The desk is a beauty! I’m looking forward to writing a lot of notes and letters at that desk, and I’ll no doubt pay a few bills. Mostly, I’ll enjoy having a workstation that fits me better than the old one.

Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD (Proverbs 16:20).

When we give God the pieces of our life, most of us give him a little at a time, just like we had to take the total package I received upstairs a little at a time. Trying to handle it all at once is too heavy a burden and will weigh us down, possibly even causing an accident or death. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, he begins to build something new, not out of the old but from what was intended in the first place. He never uses scrap lumber as he fashions us into a new creation always yielding, always submitting, always trusting that he will make exactly what is most appropriate in his plan for us. We must always remember that this is a cooperative effort. God has already given us everything we need to become exactly what he created us to be. We need to learn to trust him and follow his instructions exactly as they are written. We also need to be aware that as we become more like his intended plan for us, the temptation will be there to ignore or short-circuit his instructions because we’re looking just like we’re supposed to. But if the internal structure is not according to the manufacturer, something will show up eventually. It may even collapse. Those reviews of the desk? Well, I immediately noticed when one reviewer complained that the bottom of the drawers didn’t fit, that he had not used the right piece for the specific drawer. If he had read the instructions he would have seen that the bases were different, but he didn’t, so he was left with a hole in his drawer - it was pretty much useless. While we might look good, someone will eventually pull on our drawer handle and see the hole inside when we don’t trust God’s instructions and submit to him daily. God knew all along it would be there. From the moment we flipped over that page in his instruction manual because we thought we had it all figured out.

Oh, and one more thing. The instruction manual’s first instruction at the top of the book, says, “CONTACT US FIRST.” I think God wants us to contact him first when it comes to our new life, instead of reaching for what may be familiar or comfortable from the past.

Prayer:

Father, there is so much we can learn from you every day. Help us to contact you first, follow your instructions, and trust you with every piece of our broken lives. Thank you for making us new and beautiful according to your plan. For your glory, we pray. Amen.