Are You Doing Your Renovations?

Hard Work
Hard Work

Over time even new homes require renovations. If we ignore the problems they just get worse. In some ways are lives are the same. This is the season of Lent, forty days for we Christians to sift through our lives searching for needed renovations, for ground that needs cultivating, for trash that needs to be discarded.

One morning, on Facebook I received a poster that said, “I’m giving up winter for Lent”. Me too, I thought. Even as I started typing my reply, God said “but you love Canada.”

My cell phone said, “Minus 25 Celsius.” BRRRRR. I snuggled down in my cozy home and pictured many of our native reservations where people live in poorly insulated houses and are held hostage by the price of oil.

Brilliant sunshine poured through my living room window. The garbage truck lumbered up the street reminding me that I don’t live on a garbage pile in India. My cupboards and fridge are overflowing. I’m not standing in a food-line in a Syrian refugee camp. I heard God say, “Your glass overflows with comfort, love and beauty. Really, would you give up Canada?” Of course not, but I do have lots of growing places.

I forgot my recycled bags for the grocery store. I considered going back, but it was sooooo cold. I paid five cents for a plastic bag and ignored its damage to our environment. Forgive me God for adding to the piles of refuse in our world.

In this particularly cold winter, I’ve slipped back into standing in the hot shower just soaking in its heat. Here in Canada it’s easy to ignore environmentalists as they plead for conservation of our precious water.

Being consistent in living our faith in the nitty-gritty of daily life requires constant vigilance. Even when we’ve made the decision to walk a new path, it’s easy to be led astray. Guess that’s why we have the season of Lent. It pulls us back when we’ve been distracted. Lent pushes us to do the needed renovations in our lives. Thank you, God.

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” (Matthew 4:1-2)

 

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