As you may remember from one of my previous blog postings, Christmas night and the following day, was an “uplifting experience” at our house. That is, the tile in our living room lifted right off the floor in an explosive manner.
By January, we had three sections of tile that needed to be repaired. The tiles that had fully come out were the easy ones. However, there were others that had cracked and sometimes only a part of a tile had come out so the rest of the tile needed to be removed. Other tiles were still in place, but the hollow sound produced when they were tapped on indicated that they also needed to be removed before the whole process began again.
We have had the tile repaired before, so we knew that removing everything from the room that could collect dust was imperative. As the tile is sawn out, there is fine dust and bits of concrete that fly everywhere. The noise is deafening and the smell is awful. After the dust finally settles, the smell lingers for a number of days. Then the tile can be relayed using more glue and caulk.
This is not a fun process, but the end result is a floor that is not buckled and intact. There is no longer a need to spread blankets over the sharp edges to keep children from hurting themselves.
Sometimes our lives and relationships also need repairs- and that process is also a messy business. There are “tiles” that need to be removed, brokenness that needs to be repaired and doing that is a painful process. As I experienced our tile repair, I was reminded that God is an expert at repairing our lives. He saws out the parts that have become broken. This process can cause pain and often disrupts our daily routines. But just as our living room floor is now functional again, God’s repairs allow us to again enter into relationships and live in a way that is complete and healthy.
