It took a while to design this plan.
I gathered together all the ideas that I had gained over the years. From various sources I chose what I considered the best features, and applied them in ways that would suit me the best.
A room here, a bathroom there, a strategically placed hallway, stairs to a mezzanine area on one side and sunken living room on the other.
Each of these features I had seen used elsewhere in other peoples homes but had never quite seen a home with everything that I liked. The only solution of course, was to design my own so that I could build it to have every feature that I felt useful and necessary.
I then set about to build this home. It was a labourious task, and took a little longer than I expected, and despite criticisms from various people who said I should build my house like theirs, I persevered and eventually completed the construction exactly the way I wanted. Now I could sit back and enjoy it.
The only problem was that after only six months the upstairs bathroom began to leak through the floor into the living room downstairs. Everytime I had a shower, the living room ceiling would drip water onto the carpet and coffee table. Unfortunately I had not put enough thought into waterproofing and plumbing. Some of the piping was not designed properly and so it also didn't flow enough water causing it to back up and flood the rooms. Other parts of the house began to develop cracks because I had not put enough thought into the structural support. One of the piers had shifted and a whole section of the external wall of the dining room wall was staggered and separating. It seems that I had not put enough thought into getting the right foundations either.
People kept telling me that I should have consulted the Architect before I built, but I argued that I didn't need the Architect to stick his nose into the design of my house. I built it the way I wanted because I knew an Architect would have too many restrictions on how things were done, and that would limit the ability for me to express my character and emotion in my home. Then they suggested that I get the Architect to look at the damage of my home because they thought that he would know how to fix it.
I decided that I did not want to involve someone else in my home, especially not the Architect. This was my home and I had the right to have it however I chose. I would do the repairs myself. I would fix the foundations, bolster up the structural components, and repair the plumbing. After a couple of years however I discovered that it wasn't ever going to work. No sooner had I fixed one problem, then another one would re-surface even worse than before. My home was literally falling down around my ears. If I didn't do something about it then I would have no home left. My home was beginning to resemble a big pile of junk and I began to really hate my home.
With a certain amount of reluctance I realised that I just had to swallow my pride and go to the Architect for help. I had to humble myself in the knowledge that I really didn't know how to build a home properly, and needed to trust the Architect and allow him to design my home for me. What I wasn't ready for was his verdict that my existing home had to be completely demolished. Everything apparently had to be torn down before the new home could be built. This was very hard to take because there were so many things about my old home that I really loved. In the end I agreed, though, and the new plans were drawn up and then approved. When it came to the construction of my new home, however, I decided that there were some parts of the old home that I really couldn't give up so I decided to re-use them in the new home.
Eventually the new home was sufficiently constructed to the point that it was habitable again. But I was to discover that the parts of the old home that I had coveted and secretly re-used in the new home would be my downfall. Some of the parts had hidden flaws in them and began to fall apart. One of the ornamental architraves that I had saved from the old home was infested with termites, and before I knew it half of my home was destroyed like it had been struck down with cancer. I was very distraught now and realised why the Architect had told me that the old home needed to be completely destroyed.
Again I had to go before the Architect in humility and plead with him to help me fix the damage that I had caused to my new home. Thankfully he did so and it was repaired as good as new.
Some years later, I began to get comfortable with my new home, and perhaps a little bored with it, so I decided that I would build a new wing. Perhaps because I had forgotten the grief and distress I had suffered prior to allowing the Architect to intervene, or perhaps I had foolishly believed that I knew more about building a good home than before, but I decided to do it on my own without the help of the Architect.
It doesn't take a genius to realise that I didn't use the correct foundation, and neglected to build the structure properly, which meant that the entire wing eventually had to be demolished. Fortunately most of the original structure of the new home remained intact because of its strong foundation.
Now I come to the realisation that I will never be able to improve my home or learn how to enjoy my home to the fullest extent unless I consult the Architect every step of the way. Attempting to do anything in my home without him is foolish and futile and will never stand the test of time. In the building of any home, if you want it to endure and be the best home that you could ever have, then it pays in the long run to consult the Architect first.
In case you didn't get the allegorical reference, replace "home" with "life" and then replace "the Architect" with "God" and read again.
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