Parallels: Home and Spiritual Renovation (part 1: Assessing)

(This is part 1 of a series on what I learned through the process of renovating our home, and the parallels to a life yielded to and experiencing God’s work in renovating our life and spirit)

Step One: Assessing

Our spiritual life, like any home renovation project, begins with an honest assessment of what is happening, both inside and out.

From the outset, let me say that my wife and I are thankful we have a house. I am aware that millions of people long for a place to call home, and they matter to God.  We view our home as a gift God has entrusted to us for this particular season in life. We earnestly want to be good stewards of this place and are grateful that it has already been a home for us as well as a place for family and friends to visit and stay. There will come a point when we leave this place and turn it over to someone else, so we hold it with open hands.

With that stated, there have been unfinished areas in this house. When my wife and I looked at our house early last year, there were a few things that stood out to us:

1)    The basement was a blank slate waiting to be finished.  Bare block walls and one central stud wall separated the mechanical room from the rest of the basement. Cold concrete floors and minimal heat meant that it was not an inviting place. As much as we wanted to be able to host family and guests, there was not enough room on the main level, and no bathroom, bedrooms, or living and eating area in the lower level. We needed a solution to this problem.

2)    We also had a sliding glass door on the outside wall of our living room that led to… nowhere! A step outside would cause a substantial fall to the ground. (Note: I don’t know if this is a Minnesota thing, but around here it’s fairly common to see barred and locked sliding glass doors with no deck outside. The builders must assume that it’s the homeowners responsibility to add a deck).

The view from our “doorway to nowhere” was nice: there are some tall pine trees in our back yard and an undeveloped natural area that separates our house from other houses behind us.  A variety of birds frequent the bird feeders that my wife strategically placed in that area, but they are not adjacent to our house, and we both wanted to feel closer to the action. The problem, again, was that we had nothing outside of the locked and bolted sliding door that was located some 12 feet above the ground. Added to this was that the winter’s cold infiltrated the door into our living room, and the summer heat also seeped inside.

Our assessment of our house was this: To make our home more usable for our family, we were ready to investigate and take the next steps.

Spiritual Assessment

Assessing our spiritual life also requires an honest look at where we are at, what we have, and what we need.  It isn’t a one-time only event, but a lifelong process. 

A few themes in this process strike me as foundational.

1)         The first part of that process is recognizing that we are God’s creation. One verse in the Bible even states that we are God’s “poem”!  As dark as our current state might be, we are still loved and valued by the God who designed and created us.

2)         Developing and nurturing Thankfulness is an essential and healthy part of a personal assessment. It is not something that comes naturally, so we must learn and nurture the discipline of thankfulness. Each morning I write down 3 things that I am thankful for, and I’m certain this has helped develop the spiritual muscle of thankfulness.  Another component of assessing the state of our life and spirit is to ask for God’s help.  Long ago the psalmist wrote this honest prayer: “Search me, O God, and show me anything that is offensive to You, and lead me in Your way everlasting”. (see Psalm 139)

Finally, this process requires that we objectively look at where we at and and what needs to be changed. This involves a choice that often leads to moving in a new direction. God calls us to assess our spiritual lives: this is how the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah wrote it:

“This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

We stood at a crossroads with our house: to leave it as it was or to move in a new direction. After months of prayers and discussion, we made the decision to take the next steps towards its renovation.

At the crossroads of our journey through life, God is the faithful One who loves us and is always there to help us when we take the steps of faith toward spiritual and life renovation.

(Next week: Honing the Vision and Counting the cost)

God bless you!

Chris Atkins