Everybody has gone through the logistics of moving at some point: breaking up our old domicile, packing and unpacking, and making a new home at a different location. This comes with establishing new stomping ground – finding the new neighborhood café, the nearest gas station, the most reasonably priced dry cleaner. We have been hanging pictures on our walls and planting flowers around our front porch – and believe it or not: we’re not even close to the finish line! There are still many more projects to come!

I believe similar logistics happen on a soul level when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make their appearance. God moving in is no minor event, and establishing His stomping ground is no one-day-affair. The reality of our hearts’ domicile is that just like any other fixer-upper that we’ve seen, it will take time and patience to transform our hearts into suitable living space for the Trinity. We are a work-in-progress, and on that note, I think God showed a good sense of humor when His Son Jesus was born into a Carpenter’s family. Ask anybody with woodworking abilities. If you have a Carpenter’s background, then you are in good shape working on any fixer upper projects coming your way. Following is an excerpt of a Construction Carpenter job description on America’s Job exchange, which happens to be of great metaphorical use:

“Job Summary:

Responsible for designing, building, installing, and repairing structures, fixtures, furniture, and other items using different types of materials including wood and steel.

Primary responsibilities

• Remodel homes and businesses.
• Work with materials such as wood, plastic, fiberglass, or drywall.
• Utilize chisels, planes, saws, drills, and sanders to repair and erect structures.
• Join materials with nails, screws, staples, or adhesives.
• Install cabinets, partitions, doors, and windows.
• Build stairs, mantles, and furniture.”

Just picture yourself to be a run-down house the Lord wants to renovate. God is known to renew His children from the inside out, as Paul wrote in one of his letters (2 Corinthians 4:16):

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

The more God is settled in within us, the more we will get to know Him personally. He is so much more than what people in general perceive as the God of the Ten Commandments. “You shall” and “you shall not” pretty much portrays God in black and white, while letting Him move in adds color and depth to His profile. Just as the light of the rising Sun immerses the world in color, so our life will become more and more colorful in the presence of God.