Pavements and Souls: Scraping and Repaving

 Ever feel like this?  Dry, brittle, cracked, cracking, disintegrating due to weathering? This is our poor driveway.  We have tried several approaches to "quick fixes" with little overall success.  This is due to the problem being not a surface problem, and so really, in order to address the driveways issues, there needs to be a scraping and removal process, and getting down to a good foundation again, and then rebuilding!  Costly beyond what we can do.
This is the corner where it is really bad; the edges seem to be worse!  Hmmm...worn around the edges?!
That reminds me of me!  Weathered and wearing around the edges, time, and wear and tear all can take its toll.  That's why its vital to do maintenance regularly both with driveways and souls.

Over the last weeks, there has been a wonderful crew of Noble "workermens" (Austin's baby word for workers) working on digging out and cutting off the major roots from the lovely Magnolias on our street that have heaved and pushed and exploded through the sidewalks and the pavement over the years.  It has been quite an education, and a process to watch.  I have loved it.  Yes, there has been dust, and no parking days, no driving days, and mud and broken sprinklers, but none of that has dampened my enjoyment and amazement of the incredible equipment and crews that have wrought miracles in hours at different points in the process.  Today the final stage began, and after a few hours of stripping the pavement on Tuesday, the above picture shows the road ready and waiting for the army of dump truckloads of steaming asphalt being dumped into the leveler, and the steamrollers following behind, going back and forth over the whole road over and over.  The whole house was rattling and rolling, and things kept falling off the shelf above my head as I was writing letters. 

Here is a shot giving you context...

 Within hours, this is the same shot, all fresh, newly paved, smooth as can be steaming roadway!  Just like that!  Remade, repaired, renewed.  No more teeth rattling head bumping jarring over the mounds and contours of our street.  Some people knew how to find us because of the especially bad pavement on our street, boy are they going to be lost now.  We are like every other incredibly smooth street all over this land. 
Wow, thank you "workermens" from Noble.  It looks great, drives great, is just like new!  Thank you for your hours and hours of hard, back breaking labour.  Thank you to you drivers of all the trucks, and backhoes, and dump trucks, and cement trucks, and steam rollers and pavers and scrapers etc. etc. Thank you to all the form builders, and cement workers.

But I started making the parallel between driveways and bumpy worn streets and souls, my soul, and I finish with a "wish" that it was as easy as calling in a crew like Noble and having them repair and refresh the edges in me!  Wouldn't that be grand!  A few messy hours or days and voila!  Sure a little discomfort and dust, but then-- brand new!  Rolled out and smooth, no rough edges, and bumps!  Whew.  Maybe its the technology that we have today that allows what would have once taken many many months by hand, to be done in hours, that tempts me to have fantasy thoughts about it being easy to repair souls and fix rough edges within!  Shame!  God IS at work, He is scraping, and digging, and cutting roots out, and smoothing over rough spots with His loving hands, it just takes time.  There are no soul-pavers, or soulsteamrollers, no backhoe-for-the-soul,  that can instantly dig out ancient roots that are troublesome.  His blood washes over us cleansing us from sin, past, present and future, from Calvary down through the ages, until today, and if I will place myself in a posture of opening to His work, HE WILL WORK.  It just won't be fast.  The "temporary no parking" signs due to construction that have been part of our lives over the last weeks are also a misnomer when it comes to souls.  There is nothing temporary about God being at work, it is more like a permanent at work--under construction thing!

 All done!  Just like new!

And here are the steamrollers, massive, heavy, machinery that is pounding down the hot asphalt making it hardpacked and ready for more wear and tear, for cars, trucks, skateboards and bikes.  So as the house shook and rattled today, this was what I was thinking about, reflecting on and praying about.  Lord, grant me patience to be under your construction, and under your time table, not mine.  Keep me trusting that even when imperceptible to me, you are still at work, and you are repairing my soul, making your Kingdom come, your will be done.  Thank you, I bow my head and heart, surrender my soul to you tonight.  Selah.