Dear Daughters,

A few weeks ago I was downtown Grand Rapids visiting a friend in the hospital.  My typical drive home is about an hour, but I soon noticed road construction on my outward journey.  Since I don’t know downtown well and was not comfortable with any alternate roads on my own, I continued to follow GoogleMaps’ instructions as she reassuringly said I was still on the fastest route.

Because it was near the 5 o’clock rush hour (I always think it should be called snail hour) as well as a construction zone, it took 30 minutes to go the first two miles, and my travel home time was extended considerably.  It wasn’t a problem because I had no appointment or necessity to be home on time.  So, as I inched through downtown I took time to appreciate all the work that was being done, freshly poured sidewalks, new road and bridge construction,  people walking the streets on their way home – moving much faster than I.

There have been days in my past when I would have become tense and frustrated with all the slow downs and detours.  But I started thinking about a road in Idaho a few years ago.  It had been an unusually icy winter and the spring brought huge potholes on many country roads.  One day Dad came home and told me he was working on his PH.D  – becoming a Pot Hole Dodger.  He literally would have to swerve from side to side trying to avoid all the potholes because they would nearly swallow the car.

Having newly laid roads is a treat and I like to see it as a privilege.  I once read a quote:

The sign of a truly contented man is he who enjoys the scenery along the detour.


Have you ever considered that your life is under construction?

Does your heart sometimes feel like it’s full of potholes and needs to be restored?

There are days when my love grows cold, I lament my failures of the past, and I wonder why the seeming detour of my life is taking so long.

From the day we are conceived until the day we die, we are under construction. Those first nine months in the womb are an incredible miracle as we grow from two cells into an entire human being.

Then we are born – kicking and screaming.

After a year or so we walk, we fall, then get up and walk again.  We continue to fall, and fail, and fall again.  We celebrate our steps – small as they are – and continually become more steady. Eventually we run.  Somedays we fall again, but there’s always the option of getting up and moving forward.

During the remaining years of our lives we grow physically, emotionally and spiritually.  And you know which is the most important of all our growth?  Jesus says it’s our character.  Our bodies obviously grow and age, but our heart – our character – is the most precious of all.

Just like road construction, house construction, home remodels, detours and all those other annoyances of life, God uses our failures, our disappointments for our good.

I recently read the book Love Does by Bob Goff, who shares a beautiful statement on failure:

Failure is just part of the process, and it’s not just okay; it’s better than okay.  God doesn’t want failure to shut us down.  God didn’t make it a three-strikes-and-you’re-out sort of thing.  It’s more about how God helps us dust ourselves off so we can swing for the fences again.  And all of this without keeping a meticulous record of our screw-ups.

Seeming failures and disappointments really aren’t what they appear to be.  Just like a road under construction isn’t failure – it’s simply in the process of being improved.

…and I am certain that God, who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion, until  it is finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns. 

Philippians 1:6

It’s good for me to remember that I am under construction every day.

We need to remember that our husbands are under construction.

Our children are under construction.

Actually, every person you meet – the clerk at Meijer, the stocker at Winco, that annoying neighbor – is under construction.  Somehow, I have more patience with others when I remember that we are all in process during this grand design of life.  No one is the finished product, no one has arrived.  We are simply in different stages of improvement.


Builders and construction workers always need to trust the architect in order to do their job well.  Without a blueprint and detailed instructions, no building or road can finish well.

Jesus is our supreme architect, let Him have his way in your life.  There are times when your circumstances will make no sense to you, but they don’t have to make sense because you are not the architect.

This summer I came upon three short sentences that have profoundly changed the way I see my surroundings and have given me a new perspective on disappointments.  I simply say them as a prayer:

What You will.

When You will.

How You will.

When I surrender my will to His I am free.  Free to love those He puts in my path, free to enjoy the scenery during the detour and free to trust that Jesus is doing a good work in me and all those around me.

Love, Mom