The Home on Lansing Street
By Elizabeth Fleet
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
“I am not going in there. You guys go ahead and I’ll stay on the porch,” our realtor Carla stated as she held her nose and unlocked the front door to a foreclosed property that we were considering buying. The house had had the water and electricity turned off for months, and the musty odor of neglect made my eyes water before we even crossed the threshold. The dilapidated outside and overgrown yard had deterred buyers for over a year - but not us. Daniel and I were in our second year of marriage, and looking back, I’m not sure if we were crazy or dumb (probably both), but we saw something in that house that nobody else did. He and I took a deep breath, turned on our flashlights and headed in.
The inside, as you might imagine, matched the condition on the outside. “That’s the smell of potential,” I joked. Daniel didn’t think it was funny. The carpet was soiled and stained, and in that initial walk-through, we discovered huge cracks in the walls and floors on the east side of the house, evidence of a shifting foundation. Outdated wallpaper was peeling in every room and (gasp) popcorn ceilings. The kitchen contained the original 1970’s appliances, none of which worked, and through the window, we saw a very ominous in-ground pool with dark, murky water half-visible through a weather-tattered pool cover. Creepy, right? It was.
We bought the house, of course!
I was optimistic and naive, boldly making plans on which projects to tackle. We would spend our limited budget on the important things first, such as fresh carpet, paint, furniture, and new shiny appliances. Little did I know in the days leading up to closing that a structural report would take the wind out of my Joanna Gaines wannabe sails.
Our new-to-us house had major foundation issues and needed several steel piers to the tune of several thousand dollars. That was a tough check to write. Our decorating budget went down in a blaze of glory and by down, I mean, down underground where nobody could see it.
Except, you could see it.
Amazingly, by shoring up the foundation by mere inches, the visible cracks on the interior walls closed together. By shoring up the foundation, the floor was made level. By shoring up the foundation, the windows and doors could open and shut properly. Shoring up the foundation was necessary to all the other plans we had to repair and update our home.
We learned so many life lessons with our first home, through all the work, sweat, and maybe a few tears that went into making it beautiful again. But it all had to start with a firm foundation.
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
Similarly, if you want to build anything truly worthwhile, the best foundation to start on is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you want to build a good marriage, it needs to start with Him.
If you want to build a family legacy, it needs to start with Him.
If you want to build healthy friendships, it needs to start with Him.
If you want to help build and contribute to a thriving church, it needs to start with Him.
The Bible says that “Every wise woman buildeth her house…” (Proverbs 14:1A KJV)
Do you have a firm foundation?