Hit The Nail

 As you are sitting down to read this what is it that you are hearing in the background? Take a few seconds to name what it is you are hearing? I am currently home alone because my three kids are in person at school (insert all of the praise hands). I can hear the clock ticking in my dining room, the birds are chirping outside and I can actually hear them in my house with the windows closed. I can hear the dryer in the basement sing its tune to tell me the sheets are dry. These are all things I do not hear when my house is full of the life and adventure that usually fills these walls. When my children are home my favorite thing to hear is when they are playing make believe with their toys and they are laughing, talking and getting along with each other. I will not interrupt this beautiful play because I do not want to test the waters and break these peaceful moments. This peaceful play will eventually end and turn into an all out brawl of yelling and fighting from time to time and I immediately tense up and can feel my nerves welling up within me. I pray, “LORD, I do not know what just happened to the peace but please give me wisdom to do the right thing.” I do not always do or say the right thing when it comes to parenting but at least I tried with my prayer, right? Any body else with me? Fighting with our husbands or family members are never fun but the peace that follows once the argument has been resolved is always welcomed. I do not enjoy regurgitating past arguments, so for the sake of my relationship with Michael I will stick to a silly argument that we had in our first few years of marriage. I was ranting and raving about something while following Michael around in our upper- story, two bedroom apartment in which he did not have far to run in that cozy little space. Before I knew it we found ourselves in the kitchen and as I continued on in my passionate speech he opened the refrigerator, pulled out a tortilla shell, the mustard, the deli meat and cheese. I had to wonder what was going through his mind. I was clearly saying life changing arguments here. He then handed me a plate and said, “Erin, make yourself a sandwich. You will feel much better after you have a chance to eat.” I was appalled at this reaction to my sentiments but I made my sandwich which happens to be one of my favorite foods and I ate it too. The rest is history. I have no idea what we were arguing about that day but my husband knew me and knew when I was actually stating an argument due to anger or if I was just being hangry. This is a funny story, a funny moment in time that we will bring up for a good laugh. We have had other arguments where we have had to take a breather and go and pull ourselves together before continuing in our disagreements. It is in this breathing time apart where we remind ourselves that we love each other, we are on the same team and that neither one of us would ever intentionally want ill will for the other person. We have made a pact to never go to bed angry before the sun goes down but to resolve the matters before we go to sleep. “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” Ephesians 4:26. 

Relationships can be difficult at times but so worth the hard work. As I was thinking about the work that we put into our relationships with our spouses and family members I thought about all of the work that Noah had done with the ark so many years ago. With each nail in the middle of the desert he had to be wondering if it was worth it. He hadn’t seen rain in years and he was told by God that the whole world was going to be flooded. He also was 600 years old. That is an old man to be putting together a huge ark. He worked tirelessly, while others taunted him as he did what he was called to do. He sweat and probably had some scrapes and bruises from the work he put forth. With each pounding of the nail he could have asked if the rain was really gonna come, if this huge boat would really float, if his family would really survive this storm. He drove away his questions with every nail that was punched into the wood of that boat. Noah continued plank after plank and nail after nail to believe in his purpose and to build despite his questions. Over time he saw that the rain did come and his family was spared because he worked, trusted and believed in his calling from the LORD. Each grueling nail was worth the choice to continue to build and to put his shoulders to the work. We, like Noah must keep pressing in when it is hard and when it seems like the rainbow and dry land is never going to appear. Each time we choose to love our spouse and family members we are punching the nail into the side of the boat. We are choosing to continue to build despite the doubts we may have and to shoulder through and put in the tough sweaty work. Each time we sacrifice for our family we are choosing to believe that God has a detailed map for what He envisions for our families. He calls us to stay together and fight for our families and that He too will be right there fighting for us. We are saying that we trust God and that he loves us and has good planned for us in our marriages when we choose to stick them out. When we choose to keep our vows with our spouse we are partnering with the LORD to say yes to the pounding of nails and yes to the hard work. We were made to be able to withstand hard circumstances. Because we say yes to the nails and the work we then will have prepared a “boat” that will be able to stay afloat in the storm. As we float we will see the fruits of our labor while in the storm, through the storm and then when the rain ceases to exist we will see the dry land and the rainbow. Remember, all of these things take time. For Noah and his family it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and then they had to wait for dry land. The generations that follow our own will be different when our children’s children will witness the legacy of love that can be restored through Jesus in our families. We will come through this time of the storm stronger and having survived when we listen and obey the Lord’s teaching in regards to love, marriage and our families. My plea is that we keep pounding the nail into the sides of our “boats” and remembering that this work is an act of love. 

Just as the pounding of the nail is at times treacherously hard and impossible seeming we must remember that there was another pounding of the nails in scripture and it was the carefully placed pounding of the nails in Jesus’ wrists and feet. This pounding of the nails was painful as Jesus’ friends and family watched. They could have been asking is Jesus’ reign really going to come, will he really resurrect, will he and will we survive this storm. It was this painful and gruesome act with these nails that saves us from our sins and it too saved his disciples and family. It is with this pounding of the nails where grace was and is offered to us. Because Jesus went through this storm and loved us enough to see this pain through to death and then to life through his resurrection we also can experience this death to life resurrection in our marriages, families and in our individual lives. When we give these relationships to Jesus that by all appearances look dead he takes the nails that we have faithfully been pounding and he brings life and resurrection back into those dead places. He turns graves into gardens, dead seeds into flowers, dry bones into armies, dead marriages back to flourishing and intimate loves. The nails have already been placed in Jesus’ hands and if we acknowledge that he already took the nails from our own hands then we can begin to trust that his reign will come in the darkness, resurrection life is promised and that we will survive the storm and see the promised rainbow of new life.