When I next opened my eyes I found a man standing over me.
“I’m glad to see you’ve awakened,” he said.
It was a different man from the one who bought my house but he carried himself in the same way and possessed the same soft eyes. “Who are you?” I asked.
“A Helper,” he answered simply, lifting me up.
Before I could ask anything more I was distracted by what I saw and heard. The floor beneath my feet was dry, warm light was streaming in through the open windows, and a breeze tousled the deteriorating curtains, carrying with it the sound of birdsong. The waters had gone; the storm was over.
Returning my attention to him I asked, “What are you doing here?”
“You invited me in,” he said.
“There must be some mistake,” I said. “For me to invite someone in while my house lies in disrepair…”
He smiled again. “It was for this very reason that I came.” Against the wall leaned a broom and he took it in his hands.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m working on the recovery of this house, of course.”
“Stop,” I said, “this mess is mine to clean.”
“It is impossible for you,” he said.
“Impossible?” I repeated, taking the broom from him. “Haven’t I maintained this house until now, and didn’t I fill it with all of these things?” I gestured at the broken pieces of furniture.
He remained silent.
“Besides, I owe it to the Man who bought this house.” As I dug through the debris. I pulled out one chair leg, then another that seemed to be part of the same. “I know by some power he removed the water, and he allowed me to stay here; I owe him an incredible debt. You can go, I’ll do this myself.”
But the Helper didn’t leave, he stayed and watched me as I continued to dig for the rest of the chair. Finding the seat I affixed it to the two legs and began to search for a third. The Helper’s gaze began to irritate me as I searched for the third leg. When I eventually found it, I waved it at him.
“Only one to go,” he said.
I reattached the third leg and began scrounging for the forth; after some time I found it on the other side of the room. I now had the first of many pieces back together and I proudly wiped a bit of muck from the seat. The Helper interrupted my moment of triumph.
“You’ve done it,” he said.
“I have,” I answered. “It won’t be long until I have this house livable again.”
“But will it hold you up?” he asked.
“Of course,” I assured him.
I started to take my seat but a sense of worry came over me; I pushed it to the back of my mind and rested myself atop the chair. Almost immediately it gave way and threw me into the floor. As I lay there sore and sprawled out on the broken pieces the Helper came and stood over me, offering me his hand. Begrudgingly, I took it and let him lift me to my feet again. Annoyed, I confronted him.
“If you’re a helper shouldn’t you be helping me?”
“I’m not your helper, I’m the helper of the Man who bought this house,” he said. “He has his own plans for it.”
“I should have guessed,” I said, growing angry. “He said he’d return this house to me but in the end it will be unrecognizable. All my things will be thrown into the street and I’ll be forced to live with whatever he gives me. This house won’t be mine at all!” I kicked out at a ruined old chest and immediately thought better of it, kneeling down to see if I had damaged it.
“You’re mistaken,” the Helper said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You are part of his plan as well, and the changes he has in store are greater than you can imagine. Greater than you ever thought possible.”
Somehow, in spite of my fear and anger, I believed him. I looked around and saw the mud and sticks piled in the corners, the destroyed furniture, the stained walls. “What do we do?” I asked, standing up.
The Helper smiled. “First, understand that your priorities are in the wrong place and your vision is clouded.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “All these things need to be repaired and made useful again, right?”
He shook his head. “Broken things will break again,” he explained. “Over and over until they become indistinguishable from what they once were and useless for any good thing. You seek to stabilize and patch and cover up, but I seek to make all things new.”
He motioned me to follow him and headed towards the kitchen. As I rounded the corner I felt as if I’d stepped into a whole other house. The cramped kitchen space had been cleaned and the old appliances removed but, most surprisingly, the walls had been torn down. The cramped kitchen I remembered was being expanded to twice its original size!
“This is incredible!” I exclaimed. “But why so large?”
The Helper smiled. “Because it’s part of his plan. He said we will have need of it.”
Seeing the change before my eyes, my excitement for the work burned brightly. “Let me help!” I said, grabbing a hammer from the floor.
“Calm yourself,” the Helper laughed. “Remember, this work is mine, but I have a different task for you.”
“Anything!” I said.