I love planned spaces — rooms, gardens, arches, windows, wood floors, trellises, pavers, ceilings, all forms of sheltered light.
But developed spaces cost money, to create, to beautify, to maintain, to reimagine. That being reality, one must be sure to have a stash of cash when buying land, houses and investment properties or when taking charge of a business or a nonprofit.
Is it worth it — the stuggle to scratch from the dirt some small portion of civilized domesticity? It’s worth it. Beautiful things happen in safe, beautiful and functional spaces. Space creates opportunity. Design creates possibility. The vertical-horizontal construct, with people inside, this is the good future.
Last week at the church I am tasked to reimagine, the HVAC system died. Warm and cool — gone. Gas furnaces, condensers, compressors, coils, supply lines — done. So, I got a bid, then three more, to replace the units. I found out that HVAC systems for large buidings are expensive.
A day after I received the first bid for a new HVAC system, a church member told me he wanted to give a large finanical gift to the church. The next day another member said that some money she had decided to give earlier in the year was now available and she too would be depositing a large check with us. Neither one knew of the costs the church was facing. They just knew they wanted to give large gifts. The total of the two gifts exceeded the bid for the new heating and air conditioning system.
Go figure.
Each one of us have a read on life, a take on reality, and we may draw different conclusions from the same evidence.
For me, I’ll make the following observations out of this experience.
Beautiful spaces are worth investing in.
Anxiety over resources may be short-lived.
Reality sometimes contains beautiful surprises.
People — they can be very generous.
And finally, God — I believe that God is very good.
Thrive! 