Under Construction

It's almost impossible to take a road trip these days without encountering some road construction. Those orange barrels can be found nearly everywhere. On interstate highways. On country roads. In the center of town. We made a quick trip down to Columbia yesterday for lunch with my brother and SIL, and I lost track of the number of barrels and barricades. Orange barrels and traffic barricades are just a fact of life out on the highways and byways.

Construction is a fact of life.  And not only on the roads.

Every time I saw one of those orange barrels, I found myself remembering a kids' song from a few years back. Maybe you know it, too.

Kids under construction -  
Maybe the paint is still wet.  
Kids under construction -  
The Lord may not be finished yet.  

(Bill Gaither/Gary Paxton)

 

 

It's a fun song with a catchy tune, but it also contains a profound truth. The point of the song is that kids are just kids, still works in progress, and we should perhaps be a bit more patient with them when they mess up or when they make a bad decision. After all, they are still "under construction". We don't yet see the finished product when we look at a child.

 

But it is also true that all of us are still "under construction", for as long as we are in this life. We never reach the point where we have "arrived". We may gain great knowledge or skill in any number of subjects, but none of us will ever arrive at the point in this life where there is nothing left to learn and no room left for mental or spiritual growth. As long as we live, as long as we have breath, there's room for improvement. We are still "under construction".

 

And so we press on. Until the Lord is finished with us and in us and through us here. Until the day we are called home. 

 

Until then, we are still "under construction."

 

My heart can sing when I pause to remember

A heartache here is but a stepping stone

Along a path that's winding always upward;

This troubled world is not my final home.

But until then my heart will go on singing;

Until then with joy I'll carry on.

Until the day my eyes behold my Saviour;

Until the day God calls me home.

(words and music by Stuart Hamblen)