X is for eXcavation eXperiences

Kitchen Renos.  It's actually kind of fun to be destructive instead of cleaning!  The floor tiles are not coming off as easily as I had hoped, but the baseboards and chair rail are all gone, and I discovered a new layer of wallpaper behind the fridge and stove.  A shiny blue eighties flower print. 

It was at that point that I imagined people being like this kitchen - we keep renovating ourselves and adding layers of identity, covering up the old with who we want to be next.  Trying to stay fresh and current, but not always doing a thorough job of it and doing a deep cleansing down to the core of the problem.  The last few remodels in this kitchen have added wallpaper over other wallpaper and over lino, a chair rail and some paint.  This time, though, we're taking down the walls right to the studs, making sure the insulation is adequate and vapor barrier is in place, then putting in fresh walls and new paint, and new floors (and probably new cabinets, which were not planned for; anyone want to finance that bit???).

We've been talking about restoration and becoming the 'Me I Want to Be' lately, and hard as it sounds, we need to put ourselves through this process too.  We need to let God strip away all the layers that we've accumulated, clean out the junk that has stuck where we can't see, and start to rebuild us from the inside out.  New and fresh and clean.  We will be more useful, but also will enjoy being who we are.