Parallels: Home and Spiritual Renovation—Accidents Sometimes happen!
(This is part 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)
Delays and disappointments are part of the construction process. Unfortunately, accidents can also happen. I’m a little embarrassed to say that a couple accidents happened during my work on our home renovation project. I recovered from them, but there are lessons I have learned in the process. Here are a couple::
1) Forgetfulness can cause problems.
I purchased work gloves for construction projects and wore them regularly. However, one day I took the gloves off to work on an intricate task and forgot to put them back on again. A few minutes later I cut my hand on a sharp edge of a metal joiner—not seriously— and had to wear a bandage for several days. I regretted that I didn’t remember to put my gloves on!
Sometimes in our spiritual life we can be forgetful of who we are and where we came from. The Psalmist David put it this way: “ …who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” (Psalm 19:12)
The problem of spiritual forgetfulness is that it can lead to injury and damage if we don’t address it. The remedy to this is simple: nurture and maintain intimate contact with God throughout each day. His grace washes over our forgetful nature, and His Holy Spirit helps us remember that we are His, regardless of the mistakes we make. Most importantly Jesus helps us stay alert, endure, and eventually emerge victorious—if we turn, remember, and hold fast to Him. Here are Jesus’ own words: “Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again.” (Revelation 3:3)
2) Prideful overreaching can cause falls.
I found out the hard way not to reach too high while painting on a ladder in our stairwell. It was late in the day, and I was finishing my work. As I pointed a paintbrush upward, I lost my balance and fell down several feet, landing with a thud on my bottom. My tailbone and lower back ached, and I left a dent in the drywall trying to break my fall. There were scrapes and bruises on my arms and legs. My wife saw the accident and helped me as I crawled up the stairs, walked around a bit, then sat in a chair, icing my back, and nursing my wounds. We decided it wasn’t serious enough to warrant going to the ER, but it took over a week before I felt good enough to ease back into work. The lesson I learned is that only takes a brief, foolish move —often when tired or overconfident (aka prideful!)—to cause a fall. This is well-stated in the book of Proverbs: “Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 GW)
Needless to say, I will remember this and not make the same mistake in future projects.
Spiritual accidents can also happen. We can be moving along smoothly in life when a temptation comes along that entices us to do something apart from God and His way. In those moments it is essential to remember that, on our own, we are powerless. Our invisible enemy wants us to step outside our spiritual boundaries and act in pride, unaware of the ramifications of our choices. This is how the Bible puts it:
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
The good news is there is forgiveness and restoration even when we fall—provided we return to Jesus for forgiveness, grace, healing, and a fresh start. I love God’s promise that He won’t hold our past failures and falls against us. In Psalm 103 God says He has put away our sins as far away as East is from the West. This is a remarkable statement since, in terms of directions, East and West never meet on our planet! In the same way God chooses to dissipate our sins and no longer remembers them.
3) Count your blessings
My brother added the following caution in regard to projects: Count all your digits before you start your work. Be intent on completing the project with the same number. The spiritual equivalent of this might be to always count your blessings, through delays, disappointments, and accidents. Be reminded of God’s love and grace in your life.
There is no guarantee that we won’t encounter accidents in this life. However, it is good to know that no fall or failure, indeed nothing can ever separate us from God when we live in and for Jesus Christ.
God bless you!
Chris Atkins