Rebuilding

Over the past couple of weeks, repairs topped my to-do list:

The car needed a new timing belt and water pump and some sort of right steering boot.
Two wooden fence posts had rotted and needed to be replaced.
Loose boards on the outside of the house needed to be tacked down.
The neighbor's trees, which stretched toward my roof and siding, required trimming.
Covers on recessed speakers wiggled their way out of the ceiling and hung down, begging to be reattached.

Everywhere I turned, something was in disrepair. Including my attitude.

Thankfully, throughout the summer, my church has been teaching on doubts and joy (Philippians). Both teaching series have been excellent. Here are just a few of my favorite quotes that I jotted down over the past few weeks:

"The Healer is more important than the healing." - Bruce Edstrom (counselor & guest speaker)

"God is not a supplement." - Mark Philpot (worship leader)

"Our questions come from a place desiring certainty, but God doesn't promise us certainty." - Dr. Ted Wueste (lead pastor)

"We change events in order to avoid changing ourselves." - Richard Rohr (Franciscan priest)

"It is grace that forms the void inside of us, and it is grace alone that can fill the void." - Simone Weil (philosopher)

"Forgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God, for not fulfilling all my needs." - Henri Nouwen (priest & author)

"Don't go out into life hungry expecting it to fill you up." - Dr. Ted Wueste

These quotes point me back to the Truth. The Tool that has the power to rebuild me from the inside in the midst of my other rebuilding projects. So hopefully my attitude will not be in disrepair for long, even when (not if) other things start to fall apart.