Unity

 

As the renovations had stalled, I sent a (rather terse) email to the Project Manager on Monday morning. Within thirty minutes I had a phone call about the GIB stopping and they then arrived to complete their work. I also asked the Manager of the GIB stopping company to give us a quote on the rest of the work, as I discovered that the Project Manager of our job had only got a quote for half the work needing to be done. He arrived later that morning and presented another quote, ensuring us the work would be completed promptly.

Then that afternoon the painter, the electrician and the foreman all turned up to discuss what next.

‘We will be there tomorrow,’ said the electrician.

“We will be there Wednesday,’ said the painter.

‘We will get the levelling of the concrete floor done this week,’ said the foreman.

No-one turned up Tuesday.

No-one turned up Wednesday.

Early on Thursday morning the painters, the electricians and the GIB stopper arrived. Unknowingly I walked out in my dressing gown, hair standing on end and teeth un-brushed to find our living areas humming with activity. What a relief, although it was a race to grab some breakfast before the electricians turned off the power. I escaped to my bedroom and had breakfast in bed. What a treat!

When I came back out, the GIB stopper had left in a huff after the electrician wouldn’t let her in to repair the wall at the back of the stove.

The good news is, the electrical work is complete until the kitchen is installed, although I have a sneaking suspicion that they have put the fridge power point in the wrong place. I then rung the painters and put them off two days until the sanding of the GIB stopping was complete. The painters have one more day and the ceilings and skirting boards are completed.

I now have to talk to the foreman, for next steps, including the painting of the windowsills and door frames which the painters don’t seem to know about.

The levelling of the concrete floor remains undone.

Thinking about the past one and a half extremely busy weeks I realise the importance of working in unity. The electrician wasn’t prepared to work on something else to make room for the GIB stopper—who also wasn’t prepared to move to another part of the living area until the electrician was finished. The painters were not too happy at being put off until the GIB stopping and sanding was complete.

So often in our Christian fellowship, we are not united. Someone gets upset about something, someone takes offence at someone, someone gossips about someone else and people take sides.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 1:10 to ‘be perfectly united in mind and thought’ with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:11 says, ‘strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace.’

We are told to value others above ourselves, to bear with each other, to forgive each other, to put on love. It’s pretty plain how we should act towards each other.

I have been reflecting on 1 John 4:20, ‘Whoever claims to love God but hates a brother or a sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.’ Pretty strong words and ones I need to embrace better. How easy it is to simply not engage with the lonely lady who is so needy, or the one who tells you a litany of health problems, or the one you simply cannot like not matter how much you try! Is that love? ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

If I do not live that kind of love then how is my Christian life any better than that of ‘the world’, how is my life a witness to others?  

God bless you as you live in love.