My home office window has a bird’s eye view of the construction in the adjacent empty lot. From clearing the land to pouring the foundation, the initial house framing to the crane placing the roof eves, it’s been quite the process and it’s only the start. 

I’ve been told there are over 40 crafts required to build a house. Each phase must be coordinated, and let’s not forget the occasional inspection to ensure all the work is being performed to the required standards and codes. However, the new buyer will only see the beauty of the final product. They will not know the number of tradesmen who endured 110º plus temperatures, or the number of sacrificed weekends and missed celebrations, to maintain the construction schedule. The buyer will have missed all the messy, uncomfortable, hard work required to build their home. But they will be able to enjoy the finished product, the security of a beautiful house. 

My father was a carpenter and he taught me how to read construction plans, drive a nail, saw a straight line, and use a level. He gave me the tools needed to perform carpentry tasks. But regardless of how much he encouraged me, it was up to me to put all these tools to work. If I wanted to build something, I had to develop a plan, collect my materials, and take some action. 

Joanna Weaver in her book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World – Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life writes,

“ It takes a process to produce a product.”

That is true whether we are building a home or cooking a meal, working to build a career, or transitioning to retirement. There is a process and we must be willing to pick up our tools and take an initial step down the process path.

Joanna goes on to say,

“A product requires a process. The same is true for our Christian walk. Becoming like Jesus requires a process as well.”

She goes on to explain that the refining process requires us to hone our surrender skills and although it sounds like something any good Christian desires to do, it’s a hard endless task.

There was a point in my life when I realized I needed to decide on my walk with God. I had to determine if I was going to continue going through the motions – meeting God on Sunday, talking with him sporadically through the week, and then becoming angry with him when life didn’t go according to my plans, or move him to the top of my priority list. There was a lot of wrestling and negotiating with myself before I accepted the ugly truth. I desperately wanted to retain my perceived control and from God’s perspective, that attitude was sin. 

Control had served its purpose in the C-suite of executives. It worked marginally well when faced with recovery following surgery or the random debate over what to buy or where to go. But when it came to my heart, control only led to frustration and an ever-increasing feeling of angst. I began to understand that the path to a life fully aligned with God is through the process of letting him take control, refine my attitudes and actions, and trust him for the outcome. It is a journey I remain on today and please don’t think that it is a one-and-done event that leads to full surrender. Surrender takes a lifetime, a step or two forward, a futile grab for control, brief recognition of sin, only to repeat again and again.

I wonder if you’ve given this process of surrender much thought. If you have, how are you doing with giving God control? What steps can you take today to draw closer, to align your life more fully with his?

And if you haven’t given surrender much thought, how are you doing with managing all the twists and turns of life on your own? Are you going through the motions of walking with Jesus or have you committed to fully following him? 

Regardless of where you stand today, I want to encourage you, that it takes a process to produce a product. Please take a little time today to consider the product you want produced in your life and then take the steps needed to refine your skills, surrender your control, and follow your Savior.

Be Blessed,