Home Improvements with Jesus - November 24
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127], Zech. 11:4-17; 1 Cor. 3:10-23; Luke 18:31-43
“Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.” (1 Cor. 3:10)
My dad was an architect. He would wake up in the darkness and quiet of the morning before the rest of us and sit at our round, wrought iron kitchen table in his blue bathrobe. It was the only time of the day that there was peace and quiet in our house. Dad would sip coffee, smoke cigarettes, and write on a yellow legal pad, doodling lists and ideas for renovations to our house, landscape designs, or other drawings. I can still remember his drawings of options for crown molding to install in our dining room and formal living room. His eye was on details that brought beauty.
In the house we lived in, there was much left undone, which I am sure got overwhelming to my dad and mom. They bought the house in Old Cloverdale in 1978, knowing it needed updates. Projects were completed little by little, in the evening after work or on the weekends. Very little was outsourced. With care and tenderness, my dad chose what to renovate, revise, and restore. That work did not go quickly or easily. I have not been back inside my childhood home since we sold it in 2004, so I cannot see what remains of my dad’s vision and handiwork. I see the exterior of the house when I drive by on the rare occasion I am in Montgomery. It looks beautiful and well-maintained.
I sit here this morning with Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, reflecting on my childhood home and my dad’s engagement as a builder. I think about growing up in that lovely, cavernous house, that was always in the process of being refined. And then my mind moves to what is behind Paul’s metaphor: one’s spirituality in relation to God. What does my spiritual edifice look like? How well-secured am I to the foundation that is Jesus? What projects am I prayerfully considering to renovate aspects of God’s temple within me? Which areas are in need of re-visioning? Which areas are primed and waiting for a new wall color or floor covering? What needs sanding and refinishing? What areas am I avoiding, and why?
I can sit in that reflective posture for a moment and some responses come up immediately for me. In all honesty, I also feel the pushback and reality of 2020: there are times this year that I have felt in a space of perpetual spiritual waiting or feeling stalled out, because I don’t have the resources or time to focus on spiritual growth. Like my dad, I am balancing marriage, children, vocation, and the strains of pandemic stressors. In other seasons of life, obstacles have included grief, loneliness, self-absorption, and other obstacles for intentional spiritual growth.
Regardless of the roadblocks and hardships, what I know and feel is that, while this year has tested the foundation of my faith – not through fire, but rather through fear, isolation, and loss – the ups and downs of this year have, in Paul’s words, tested “what sort of work each has done” (v. 13). The undulations and stressors of 2020 reveal what work there is still to do within me, too. I inhale a deep breath to slow down and take comfort knowing that the foundation of Jesus Christ doesn’t shift or change. Jesus is steady. Jesus is patient. Jesus is present.
Today’s invitation for us is to be attentive. Rather than listing every minutia that must be accomplished to beautify our faith journey, we get to take stock of the connection points to our foundation. Note what practices and people reveal how we are grounded in God. Give thanks for those spaces of stasis, that are undoubtedly surrounded by much more that is fluid and dynamic. Finally, lean into the hopefulness that God is not finished with any of us, and our work as builders – even if we’re stalled out – is not a task done in isolation. Thanks be to God.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
In thinking of spiritual growth as a home renovation project, how does that resonate with you? Do you feel intimidated or overwhelmed, up to the task or already halfway there?
What is an obstacle to spiritual growth for you?
Daily Challenge
There are many spiritual disciplines to examine and deepen your faith in God. This week, try to adopt the posture of gratitude. Take stock of the gifts and mercies present for you. Be mindful of the good, and note how this awareness reconnects you to realities (and relatives) outside of yourself.