Building a Palace Instead

‘His House’, by CS Lewis:

“I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and soon: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way which hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation if that He is building quite a different house form the one you though of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”