Shed

If you Google square you will get a great deal of information about a little square device that can plug into your smart phone and take charges from credit cards. I have used this technology in selling items at craft shows and it works marvelously. However, that is not the square I was thinking about in the writing of this blog. When I was a youth we used the term “square” to mean that someone was old fashion or perhaps too conservative in their thinking. In construction projects, being square is certainly old fashion but not outdated. It is just as important to be square today as it was a thousand years ago.

Recently, when I decided to build a shed in our back yard, I was keenly aware of how important it is to get the foundation square in order to avoid problems during the rest of the project. I carefully staked out the four corners and measured the diagonals to confirm they were exact. After setting my foundation blocks I built a deck using 4 – 12 feet boards for the outside of the deck that would serve as the foundation. After these four boards were screwed together, everything appeared to be square. I than measured and cut the floor joists, attached them with joist hangers and was ready to put down the deck boards to complete the foundation. Just so I would feel good, I checked one more time, the diagonal measures to make sure that the foundation was square. It was not! It was one inch longer in one diagonal compared to the other.

This is not the first time, in my efforts at construction jobs, that I came close but alas, I missed the mark. I had two options. I could tear the whole thing apart and start over, or I could live with being off by one inch. Fitting to my personality, I was ok with being off by one inch so I proceeded in hopes that it would all work out in the end. As I preceded, every step in the project from putting down the deck boards, raising the walls to building the roof system, I had to deal with not being perfectly square. I kept thinking to myself, what grade would Mario give me. Mario was the property manager at Camp Jewell where I worked in Connecticut and an outspoken critic when it came to construction. Somehow, I believed, if I kept Mario in mind, the overall quality of work would be better.

The other reminder I kept sharing with myself is that I had no reason to rush this project. The entire summer is before me and I can go slowly in my effort to do a better job and not knock myself out with time constraints. The good news is that the vast majority of people who see this shed will give it pretty high marks. It looks good and it looks square. Not too confident in how Mario might grade it. Nevertheless, I will always know that it is not square and it falls short of perfect. So the big question is: what do I do with this “not square” “not perfect” situation.

If I relate this shed to my own life, I realize that when the foundation is off, it impacts everything else. On the one hand, I know that the foundation of my life is off due to sin and iniquity and that this impacts everything else. On the other hand, I know that when God made me, He said, “It was very good,” and that God really does have a wonderful plan for my life. I also know that God works all things together for good and that He is in the business of restoration. So if I put all of these truths together, I can rejoice greatly in the fact that God is indeed perfect and His works are perfect. And in my wondering away, as an offspring of Adam, I have missed the mark but by the grace of the Almighty, there is power to come back into square.

Through repentance (of my sin), renouncing (this sin), forgiving (myself and others), rebuking (the devil) and proclaiming (truth) I can once again stand square with the Maker of heaven and earth.