March 11 – Remodeling Reflections

We are having two bathrooms overhauled at our house right now. What was 1.5
baths will soon become 2 baths. This will be a fabulous, daily quality-of-life
improvement. It will be. It will be. My new mantra. Thank You, Lord, for what it will
be.

These improvements are turning into a pretty big project with the moving of
plumbing and walls. All this work has meant having men in and out of my house–
and my bedroom!!–for several weeks now. The whole family is now using one little
guest bathroom downstairs for all of our pottying and bathing needs. You wanna
talk about “First World Problems”? Only ONE bathroom? DOWNstairs? We’re fine.
We are. But this big project has altered our daily routines, and not just the bathroom
kind. I pretty much do all the same things I used to do, but when and where I get
them done has changed. Shifting my routine was difficult for me at first. It turns out
I’m a little more stuck in my ways than I thought. I have a curmudgeonly streak.
Who knew?

These changes have made me notice things I had been overlooking before. It has
given me a new appreciation for our home, for our family. The change in routine has
helped me do some decluttering, too. Discovering junk that hasn’t been touched in
forever that was right under my nose, unnoticed.
I think this is part of the lesson of Lent. A change in routine–it seems most Lenten
practices require an altering of the routine–helps us become aware. We notice the
good, we get rid of some bad; we shift our focus for 40 days. We fight any tendencies
to be a curmudgeon in our following of Christ.

– Julie Dahlberg