Ruins

"Rebuilding the ruins" is my theme for 2023.  Some people choose a word and last year we did - "focus", but this year, for me, it was a phrase.  My phrase comes right out of Scripture.  Over and over since I started re-reading from the beginning, I found myself in Chronicles, Ezra and now Nehemiah and the theme is rebuilding the ruins, over and over.  

This morning as I read in Nehemiah I saw the words, "rebuilt", "restore", "repair" repeated all throughout the chapter.  I circled the words each time I saw them.  Family after family was named, each one restoring the wall in front of them.   They weren't worried about the wall space beside them or down the street, just the wall in front of them.  Focused.  They laid down beams, set doors, bolts and bars.  And, it seems, they just did it, no obvious complaining written down or recorded.

The whole timed I'm reading this, I remember years ago how I was reading in this same area of the Bible and I was struck then how we had purchased "ruins" and how I longed even then to rebuild them.  We literally have a sawmill on our property from the 1930s and I met an old couple a long time ago who knew the property we lived on and said they used to get their wood milled at our place.  You would never know that now.  The buildings were standing when we moved in here and fell down after a major windstorm.  We've always wanted not to rebuild them, but to remove them!  They are kind of an eyesore now.  But the rest of our property is definitely needing rebuilding.

Even as we plan for this and a designer is officially hired and working on an overall plan, we've been watching a hilarious series called Island of Bryan.  This couple from the town near to the one we moved from, bought a dilapidated resort in the Bahamas and attempted to fix it up and bring it back to life.  Right from the beginning we felt we could relate to these people on many levels.  They risked all their financial resources, brought the kids along for the ride whether they liked it or not, went against all the worldly wisdom that told them they were nuts, fought one another and yet were on the same page throughout the experience, went through wild highs and wild lows and yet managed to succeed (though we haven't finished the series, we know from the internet that the resort is open for business!).  We don't quite have the resources they had, but we have lots in common with them, including the drive, the willingness to take on things that make no sense to anyone else, dragging our kids along for the ride, etc.  Our story could have been a mini-series, too, but we didn't document it quite the same way, though if we had it would have been a VERY long show as we've stopped all renovations to plant vines, have babies, homeschool, plant gardens and the list goes on.  But now that we are in the potential renovation stage and we see how much they took on and how much they accomplished (with what seemed like an unlimited budget), we are starting to think our renovation is small!  In fact, this Island of Bryan guy, aka, Bryan, is the one we've sent our application to for his next show which doesn't even have a name.  Now that he's done his own start-up renovation, he realized there are probably other people out there wanting to do a similar start up, but lack the resources and he wants to be the guy to come in and help AND get it done fast.  Man, that's what we want.  Let this be the day he contacts us!!!!

All this to say, there seems to be a theme in our lives and all throughout Scripture.  In fact, I even had my son put on a playlist this week and as I was listening, I saw on the screen the name of the song, "Ruins".  I was immediately curious what it was about and sure enough the lyrics were all about rebuilding, restoring, repairing what has been broken, what has been stolen and that God is the God of repairing the ruins.  I couldn't believe it as I sat there listening to this amazing song.  Lord, you are the God who repairs the ruins.  Can you help us repair ours?  Of course it's a much bigger picture when Scripture speaks of rebuilding the ruins - treasure in heaven, not treasure on earth.  I know this, but I also see our farm as a symbol, a picture of what God can do, what He is doing, so I still pray and I still hope that He'll restore our place, always wanting Him to get the glory, not us.

So, even though I sit among ruins and literally see ruins from my window, I see how slowly but surely God is bringing the ruins back to life and I'm so grateful for these themes in my life and these real life pictures all around me.