For the Interested in Remodeling

"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 so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." — C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

If I were a house, I wonder what I would look like.  I'd like to think I would have a white picket fence out front -- perhaps a Christmas tree sparkling behind large windows with lace drapes.  (I'm describing my dream house, if you couldn't tell:))  But undoubtedly the most important part of my home will be the precious hearts living inside it.  I want my home to be filled with so much love and peace that it is a refuge to all who enter it -- a place of hospitality, where our door is always open.

That is not to say I will always have freshly baked cookies sitting upon my countertops, every bed will be made, and jazz music serenading each room.  Life doesn't particularly look like that -- only on the rare occasion, which I am perfectly content with.

I say all of that in reference to Lewis' words of wisdom.  For those of us who practice the Christian faith, we believe that after we accept Jesus into our hearts (Romans 10:9-10), our lives will forever be transformed, because we have the Spirit living inside of us.  See below.

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." -John 14:16-20

Because we have the Lord living inside of us, our lives should be reflective of that.  Similarly to a home, the outward appearance of our bodies is so trivial.  Now I will be the first one to say, I love dressing up.  I love shopping.  I'm going this weekend with my mommy!  But our identities should not be found in how we are perceived but in who we are.  Granted perceptions are often very important (especially when it comes to states and perceived power, but we'll save that for another blog post), but we must seek deep within ourselves into the Spirit of the Lord.  For it is in Him that we discover our true identities.

For my own life, it is my prayer that when I come into contact with anyone, that I would allow the Spirit to be so active that people would immediately feel the joy and love of the Lord -- radiating from Him, through me, to them!  Each day we such an honor and responsibility to love our brothers and sisters of this world.  You were created for greatness.  Living up to the call of greatness will assuredly be challenging, but we have the all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing LORD living inside of us.

"You can't be connected with God until you're at peace with who you are. If you're still upset that God gave you this body or this life or this family or these circumstances, you will never be able to connect with God in a healthy, thriving, sustainable sort of way. You'll be at odds with your maker. And if you can't come to terms with the life you've been given, you'll never be able to accept others and how they were made and the lives they've been given. And until you're at peace with God and those around, you will continue to struggle with your role on the planet, your part to play in the universe." -Rob Bell (Sex God)

More to come!  All my love!