Blueprints

“For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” Hebrews 3:4

When I was a child, my father often brought home blueprints of various buildings so he could do some office work at home. Giant pieces of blue paper would cover his slanted workspace, a bright light clipped to the back of it. He would print numbers, capital letters, lines, arcs, and arrows in that very precise way engineers employ.

Everything had to be perfect on those blueprints. He used mathematical compasses, protractors, slide rules, and special pencils as the tools of his trade, and he never made a mistake that had to be erased. It was all in his head how things should be, and drawn very precisely.

So it is with God, our Master Builder. When we consider our own creation, we know that the Architect and Engineer of our lives has precisely and intricately planned every aspect of this house He has designed to be His dwelling place. He knows what will be in the uppermost regions of the house, knows where the closets are, knows the dark basement areas. He has planned all the twists and turns, ups and downs, entrances and exits. “… You are God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9b).

He has intricately drawn our blueprints, and then set about building us from our conception until this day, and continues to build throughout our lives. He sticks to the plans He thought up, because the house was perfect for Him to dwell in. For some of us, the outside of the house is beautiful to look at, although that does deteriorate over time. For some, the inside is simple, just one or two rooms. Some have doors that stick, making it hard to gain entrance. Some have glass walls, making them transparent.

All this is allegory, of course. God has made us unique, precisely as He wants, to be His own dwelling place. He loves His many homes, each for its own characteristics, each for its comfy spots of rest, each for its bustling rooms of inspiration and creative work. In His blueprints, He made no mistakes that required erasing and do-overs.

“… in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Lord, You have made me just as You planned. I accept what I consider to be flaws that more perfectly show Your beauty, the weak staircases that showcase Your strength, the stuck windows that only You can open. You are perfect in all Your ways. Amen.