Peeling back the layers

The renovation project at our church started in April of 2024.

This was an early start designed to give the HVAC contractor an edge in the preliminary work for the complicated new system.

That jump start also included the abatement company. Their personnel would be tearing out cantankerous ceilings, floors, and properly following safety protocols for anything with the dreaded “a” word—asbestos.

A project with an extremely tight time line for a completion date needs every advantage related to how the clock ticks.

Despite a carefully designed plan by all participants, in an old building it is always the unexpected surprises that are found when the layers are peeled away.

Those unexpected surprises create heartburn. With this project, we had our share of days with high antacid intake.

At our home, I started a seemingly easy project—removing the paint on two exterior doors. Clearly, I guessed wrong on the degree of difficulty scale. Every swipe with the sander, and every rub with the chemical stripper revealed another coat of paint.

As of yesterday, the doors are finally bare enough for a coat of primer.

Back in the summer, my wife traveled to Peoria, Illinois. She spent a few days visiting with two dear friends from high school—Leslie and Sarah.

Knowing that I like to read, Leslie’s husband, Dave, sent back a book for me. If Dave knew that I read books at the pace of a slug, he might not have given the book to Betsy to bring back to Richmond.

For several weeks, I’ve been plodding through The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Mr. Wohlleben is a German forester. Let me tell you—he knows his trees.

Also, let me tell you, trees might look simple in our day to day viewing of them, but trees are complicated. Beyond their bark, limbs, and leaves, trees are as complex and nuanced as our human bodies. Their resilience to weather, animals, and invaders of all types is amazing.

Even though I dread my annual battle with the fallen leaves in our yard, I love the month of October. At some point in October, we start to notice the green of our tree leaves changing into dazzling colors.
Yellow, orange, red, and assorted shades of brown like cocoa powder always capture my attention. Cast against a crisp blue sky there is nothing like an October daydream.

I wonder if Jesus was captured by October?

In his world was the changing of the seasons as significant as they are for us in the middle Atlantic states?

I wonder if pumpkins grew in the farmland that Jesus and his disciples passed as their feet carried from town to town?

I wonder what he might think about Halloween?

This is the time of the year when the pace of the remaining days of the calendar move quicker.

In a blink, January 2025 will be here.

With all that is swirling around in our chaotic world, there are days I wonder if we will still be here for the start of a new year?

On the evening of Monday, October 7, my wife and I attended the Weinstein-Rosenthal Forum at the University of Richmond. The forum is a focus on faith, ethics, and global society. The guest was Doris Kearns Goodwin. Mrs. Godwin is a writer, and author of books about four unique American presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.

In the course of answering questions, the moderator, former University of Richmond President, Ed Ayers, noted that Mrs. Goodwin still has hope in these turbulent times.

Mrs. Goodwin stated that her hope is found in our history. She noted that despite the difficulties America faced with the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, racial injustice, and the Vietnam War, we persevered.

It can be a challenge to peel back the layers of an old building, the internal workings of a tree, our history, and the pressure and stress of our day to day living.

Perhaps, the biggest challenge we face is peeling back the layers of our hearts.

For it is in our hearts where we wrestle with the layers of life.

We wrestle with everything in our hearts—good, bad, right, wrong, yes, no, family, friends, neighbors, and strangers.

Sometimes, it is our hearts that give us the resilience to persevere.

As we peel back the layers of our complicated hearts, my hope for you, me, we, us is that our hearts will help us to persevere with empathy and humility.

And I wonder during the course of a year, a month, a week, a day how often do I fail my heart when empathy and humility are absent in my living?

In those moments, I must nudge myself to remember the words from 1 Samuel 16:7. It’s not about peeling back the layers of my outward appearance. No, it’s all about what the Lord sees as he looks at my old heart.

At this stage of my life, I think I need to stop disappointing his heart.