Ultimate Snagging

Moving into a new house is lovely, everything is clean, fresh and unblemished, at least for a while. It doesn't take long for dings and scrapes to appear. On top of that when you live in a new house and especially one that was built so quickly you encounter 'snagging'. Essentially snagging is discovering all of the little things that were not finished properly or not at all. Our list started at more than thirty, the front door unpainted, missed patches of paint, the back wall to the garden unbuilt, garage doors not shutting properly, uneven plaster, wonky radiator etc - the list goes on. I have joked that we have lived here for more than 2 months and we are hoping it will be finished soon!

Actually, all joking aside, we love our house, we are delighted with it and are happy to deal with the 'snagging' with patience until it is perfect.

Ah, perfection, as I have already said since we have been here we have scratched a little bit of paintwork, drilled one or two holes that have had to be filled in and re-plastered - things we can't ask the builders to put right as they are our responsibility. Maybe 'snagging' then is an on-going process and one that will never be complete.

All much like life really if I think about it. I know as a Christian what I might aim for - perfection and what I settle for - reality are different. There are bumps and scratches in my life, I do not always live up to the person God calls me to be or the person I aim to be - there is plenty of 'snagging'; yet there is a danger that we give up on the snagging, the opportunities to reflect and discern and then put right some of the things that we know we can deal with with a little effort. If we start to live with the bumps and scratches then sooner enough more will soon come along and there is a danger we can be overwhelmed.

Without being crass I guess we could see Jesus as the ultimate 'snagger' - God's way of interacting in the world - but perhaps not filling in the holes and cracks but pulling down the whole house and starting again. Jesus said 'Whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will preserve it.'. As he was preparing to go to Jerusalem and the cross he also said that the temple would be torn down and rebuilt in three days - of course he was talking about his own death and subsequent resurrection. Pulling down so the something could be rebuilt, renewed, reborn - ultimate snagging indeed.

So as I travel towards Easter I am grateful for those who come and do my snagging and mindful that some of the snagging is my responsibility to deal with. I am also mindful that, in Jesus, God offers us a complete new start - we have made so much  mess that he dares us deny ourselves and tear the whole lot down knowing that this is not the end of the story but the beginning. Ultimate snagging.