The House

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I do wish God would leave my house alone, not really, but yes really...no not really...yes really. Well, it is His house...but why does He mess with it so? Why can't He just make the basic changes that Lewis suggests? Am I the victim of "bait and switch"? I don't recall anyone telling me about this; I do recall well-meaning church people showing me tract housing, nice and neat and orderly - my job was to look the same as everyone else. Of course each denomination had its own house style, but by and large nothing was offensive and much was comfortable. 

God seems to be continually working on His house - doesn't He ever take a vacation? I thought He rested from His work?

A funny thing is that the walls that I thought were bearing - like "do this and don't do that"; "look like this and don't look like that"; are not bearing at all, they don't carry weight - and God has had to tear those walls down and teach me what is weight-bearing, what should support the structure. Change, change, and then more change - He tears the old out and installs the new. Amazing, He lifts the house off one foundation and puts it upon Another.