This Is The House That Tracy Built

Welcome to Traces Space....Yesterday I had a flashback moment.  Mike and I were out and about and as we came back towards home we passed a house that I always had my eye on...It was a dump back in the day, it had been abandoned and really looked as if no one would ever care for it.  I use to say to everyone on the school bus as we drove past this particular house, that's my dream house, I want to buy it and fix it...Something about that house caught my eye, even as a teenager.
As the years went by the house remained empty and unkept.  Finally someone purchased it and saw potential in this house.  The buyer totally refaced the outside, new windows, sandblasted the brick...new doors...took something that was ugly, appeared to be falling down and made it new...
Isn't that what God does with us? whether we are a work in progress, or we have somehow found ourselves being forgotten or unwanted, left to fall apart.
2 Corinthians 5 

[ Awaiting the New Body ] For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ...

This physical body is not our forever home...This place that our soul and our spirit reside in is not the place that it will remain for all eternity. That is hope.  In that we recognize that no matter how broken or ruined we become, this isn't forever.  We do not have to rely on ourselves to make it through, that this a new body created by God Himself awaits us.  In that dwelling place there will be no more pain, no more death, no more tears, no more of the brokenness that this earth has for us.

While we are here, it is our responsibility to take care of our houses, our temples that God has provided for us, by staying healthy and being in communion with each other.  We can not take what God has provided for granted and we can not abuse it either.  So we are charged with taking care of it and  taking care of the potential that each and everyone of us has.
See the appearance on the outside isn't always what its all about...You truly can not judge a book by its cover.
So this old wrinkled version of Tracy is in need of repair.  But I have potential.  I can get myself physically fit as well as spiritually fit, and it is my responsibility to take on the challenge of "home" improvement.  As it is with each one of us.
This is the house that I have built here on this earth, and I need to own it...I do not always want to be the fixer-upper.  See like that house, God has come along in order to show us what needs to be fixed, what needs to be done until we can dwell with Him forever.
Today I pray that each one of us recognize our responsibility, but also that we see the hope that we are not living in our forever home.  That we are a work in progress, just in need of repair...
See you soon.