Tip of My Iceberg

He’s a dedicated construction engineer, always considering the needs of those for whom he builds. He’s creative with his methods and his medium, and he takes great pride in his innovations for his customers.

His customers are small but not inconsequential. They prefer habitats that are darker and a little moist.

Beck collects roly polys, tiny bugs that don’t bite, sting, or carry harmful diseases. They don’t lay eggs in houses or damage people’s things. They’re name comes from their habit of rolling into a ball when picked up or touched.

Beck used magnetic tiles to construct his bug condominiums. Colorful, roomy, and plastic. Once his building was complete, he took a container of these bugs and ceremoniously dumped them into their new home.

The chance of those little buggers living long in their new residence were slim. But Beck’s heart was in the construction and in trying to provide a special place for his “friends”.

We’re all wanting special places that we can call home, whether an apartment, a house, a condo. Spaces that reflect us, who we are, and what makes us comfortable. We’re limited by funds and imagination, but even with a little, we can impact our spaces with with the flavor of us.

It’s easy to want to create a comfortable environment for ourselves. Someplace that feels cozy, a sanctuary for our hearts, minds, and souls, a space that we feel free to be all that we are.

There aren’t many places where this is a reality. If we live alone, there’s always the possibility that isolation can creep in and color what feels cozy. (Memories of COVID flood my mind–I don’t think we’re fully aware of what all that isolation did to the world culture at large.) “One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.” Proverbs 18:1. Living isolated from others can cause us to have a skewed view of reality. If we live with others, family members or roommates, conflict will assuredly happen. Sometimes grudges go so deep, they become barriers to reconciliation. Life can be messy. “Knowing their thoughts (the religious leaders), He told them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.’” Matthew 12:25. Division is hard to fight against.

The problem is we were made for better than what we have. I’m not talking about ritzy houses with multiple rooms and pools and tennis courts. What’s funny is that the people living in those ritzy places are just as unhappy as everyone else.

We were made for the Garden of Eden. A place of peace, beauty, and closeness with God our Creator. Such calm and intimacy is what our hearts long for, for He desires to create an Eden temple within us, a place where Christ can make His home in our hearts. “For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: ‘I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.’” 2 Corinthians 616

Beck’s roly polys may not think their plastic home is paradise. Without dirt, darkness, and damp they won’t live long.

But we can spend an eternity with God in heaven, where Eden glory will reign, and we will find peace and wholeness that lasts.

That’s true coziness.