“That house is new, but it looks like it’s been there all along,” we observe on our way by.

That lot has been vacant for some time, but now it has a house on it. And it’s a beauty! Fits right in with the other houses on the street — quiet, residential, tasteful, landscaped, cared for, planned for, wanted.

How many vacancies are in our lives?  Where we

• wished we hadn’t said …
• regretted having done …
• missed our chance to …

Oh, the empty lot. If only we had seen it, grasped it, filled it, acted on it. If only we’d put our deposit down, things would have been different.

But wait. This house, set snugly in its perfect place, suggests that maybe I still can. Houses need not be built one after the other. When plans were drawn up, a lot was prepared and set aside for me. “Don’t let your regrets prevent you from building,” it seems to say. “Forgive yourself, all of these, as I have already forgiven you.”

He has prepared a place for the very you who didn’t, should have, or shouldn’t have, now that you are.

People will pass by and say, “My, what a lovely home. Quiet, residential, tasteful, landscaped, cared for, planned for, wanted. It looks like it’s been there all along!”

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ~ John 14:2