Dents in the Floor

In April of 2006, during the three weeks after my second diagnosis of cancer and prior to life changing surgical intervention, I decided to undertake the task of building an outdoor screen room that is attached to our home. My greatest motivation was to have an outdoor sanctuary free from insects in which to recuperate after my stay in the hospital. I was strangely energized during those weeks and felt very much alive. Besides the construction of the screen room, there were several indoor plumbing repairs that I wanted to make while I was still comparatively healthy and active. In effect, I would actually take a break from the framing of the screen room and go inside to make the repairs.

Shortly before my departure to the hospital, I noticed small dents in the floor in certain rooms and indeed on the way to certain rooms. We have softwood pine floors and it is not difficult to cause damage to the boards. I could not figure out what had caused the dents and even blamed Lozanne for wearing high heels in the house. Much to my chagrin, it finally dawned on me that I had caused the dents myself by not removing my otherwise clean work boots as I moved from outside to inside work. The culprit turned out to be small pebbles lodged in the large tread of my boots. Wherever I stepped, small dents were created. They are not really that noticeable, but I sure see them clearly from time to time. I have even realized that the small pits may even have a positive reason for being. They will show those who remain, when I am gone, that I was indeed here. Should our home, as is my fondest hope, remain in the family, the dents will be a constant reminder of my former presence; albeit, clumsy, non-thinking presence. It also occurs to me that a life even well lived leaves behind few, if any, clues that we were ever here on this earth. In Psalm 90: 5-6 this concept is made all too clear.

5 You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:

6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.

Elsewhere in the Bible our lives are characterized as a “vapour” (James 4:14) and as a “sigh” (Psalm 90:9). Verse 10 of Psalm 90 really sums up how short and fleeting our lives are:

10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

If I was to stop writing at this point, suffice it to say that my blog today is very depressing. The very good news is that this “boast of labor and sorrow” is not the end. It is just the very beginning of eternity. For those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, these years are just the first breath of forever in paradise with the Father and the Son. For those of us who have accepted the saviour’s free gift, there is a great deal of hope in that thought.

Now I have another way to characterize our short life on this earth. We are but dents in the floor.

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