Joy Apartment

When I lived in Japan between 2006 and 2007, my home was a teensy weensy apartment in a beautiful neighbourhood called Motomachi. I lived on the third and top floor of an apartment block known as “Joy” (yes, for some reason it had an English name). During the course of my time in The Land of the Rising Sun, my Joy ‘mansion’ (as apartments are called there) taught me many valuable lessons. Let me explain …

My apartment went through some major overhaul over the course of about a month. My predecessor had been kind enough to leave furniture and other little odds and ends so that I would not have had to fork out huge sums of move-in capital. However, I soon grew frustrated with them because they made my room look like a mismatch disaster; not to mention, the drawers in my cupboard were so long that the doors couldn’t close. I was so frustrated!

I used to lie on my bed chatting with God about this and that, and without even realizing it, my eyes would start sweeping the room in frustration and my thoughts would just trail off into, “Lord, what can I do about this room? It’s not the way I want it to be! I mean I’m grateful that you provided this place for me, but I am frustrated!” My dream was to fix up my place so that I could entertain friends in a more comfortable milieu, but I didn’t know how to even begin to make improvements.

Well, to cut a long story short, God was kind enough to make my dreams come true through fellow church-goers, Marsha and Sabrina – two huge fans of Home and Garden TV. I sent them digital photos of my room and in turn they gave me different bits of advice – use baskets to clear the clutter, get some plants and framed pictures to make things homey, and re-arrange some of the furniture to create more space. More specifically, they told me to change the position of my bed and turn my tall bookcase on its side to make things roomier.

I followed most of their advice and with the help of my Japanese friend, Hisako, I hit a couple stores and bought everything that I needed – new beautiful pink curtains, lovely dishes, a white rug, and a few other things. I also put up a wall scroll which I had bought a few months before. It had a little pouch for fresh flowers, which was just perfect. I had long relished the idea of having fresh flowers in my little studio.

When my apartment was all fully touched up, I invited my neighbours, Eric and Crystal, to come see. I had always eyed Eric’s apartment with something that neared (but didn’t quite reach) envy (I was always careful to guard my heart), because his predecessor had had a wonderful sense of style and his ‘mansion’ was truly tastefully done. Well, my first visitors simply loved my new home, knowing the state it had been in before.

I felt that my apartment-facelift experience offered very clear pictures about God and Kingdom life.

House Metaphors
Clutter – we need to clear anything that would mute God’s voice like people’s misguided opinions of who we are or self-generated values

Moving Around Furniture – by changing an attitude here and moving things around in our heart, we can create more space for God. For example, if we are a tall bookcase of intellectual pride, then we need to step into the same humility of the great God who stoops down to make us great.

Exchanging Things – one way I got rid of clutter was to exchange some of my belongings with Eric. We can learn from each other and emulate and ‘exchange’ admirable qualities that remind us of God.

Plants – When we plant the seed of God’s Word in our hearts, good soil will produce abundant fruit. We need to be joyful and diligent doers of His Word. We need to water our relationship with God with transparency, obedience, worship and time spent musing upon the Word.

Framed Photos – God wants us to have “family” photos gracing our home; images of those who have left a legacy of faith and courage in and through God. These should line the walls of our heart.

Constant Cleaning – My mother would have been proud of me; I loved my apartment so much that every little bit of dust or paper sent me running for the vacuum. I wanted my home perfectly clean! Especially when it comes to our hearts, God wants a complete top-to-bottom cleaning job.

The White Rug – I bought a white kiddies rug because it was small enough to fit my space and also not as expensive as the adult versions. It looked really beautiful in the middle of my floor. God wants us to be childlike in our faith so that we can “enter the Kingdom.” He also wants us to be clothed in bleached garments of righteousness.

Times of Re-Modeling - God might sometimes change around things which look perfectly fine, just to create another new look that is just as beautiful yet in many ways an improvement on previous décor. We need to embrace the new and throw out what has become irrelevant, so that when He brings a new bottle of wine to dinner, we don’t make a face and ask what happened to the first Chardonnay.

Guests Welcome – the joy of having a home is in sharing it with all kinds of guests – friends, strangers, family. Of course, the most important guest is Jesus Himself, who says that He knocks on the door of our hearts and dines with those who let Him in.

Home Sweet Home – when we have a home that is swept out by His principles, beautifully decorated with godly wisdom, and graced with Kingdom-display interest pieces, God will shine his warm sunshine through the curtains of our heart and light up our mansion. Then He’ll sigh in contentment and say, “Now this feels like home! I like being here!”

God’s kindness made Joy Apartment a perfect home. I was incredibly grateful and truly delighted with what God designed for me. God has a special plan for each one of us, and if we go with His flow and let Him, as our Interior Design Project Manager, do ‘His thing’, we’ll find that our lives become a dwelling place for God and a place of refreshing for the guests who come over to enjoy our company. God definitely knows what He’s doing, so we can trust Him! In the end, we can joyfully throw open the front door and warmly welcome our faithful Friend and Father: Mi Casa Es Su Casa!