Renovation – The Costs And Rewards

6 Oct

“There are risks and costs to action.  But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”  ~ John F. Kennedy

I have been assigned to some parishes whose pastors had a different idea of maintenance.  Their idea, basically, was “replace it when it breaks.”  Because of that, they often did not engage in preventive maintenance.  For example, at one of the parishes I was assigned, I had to replace the floor of the parish hall and all the ancillary classrooms.  Why?  Because the previous pastor did not believe in minimal air conditioning in summer when the building was not in use or minimal heating in winter when the building was not in use.  Not doing so caused the floor to crumble and the tiles to come up.  The parish paid a lot more money for a new floor than it would have paid in utility costs to keep the floor in good condition.

Sometime renovation is necessary.  Failing to do so can cause things to deteriorate in such a manner as to end up costing much more money than by dealing with the problem initially.

The same rule holds for our spiritual lives.  Some people are of the mind that they do not need to put any effort or time into their relationships with God.  They think that they can skate along and expect everything to be wonderful.

When some kind of trial or tribulation comes along, they are not equipped to handle it.  Their faith is too immature or too weak and they find themselves faltering.  They blame God for not being there for them rather than realizing that they have distanced themselves from the Lord.

It is time to look deep within our own selves.  It is time to ask what our relationship with God is all about.  It is time to see if there is any “renovation” work that we need to do in that relationship.  Do we need to pray more?  Do we need to engage in more good works?  Do we need to forgive more freely or to love more dearly?

What interior work would make us better, more solid, in the faith?

FAITH ACTION:  Plan out the work that you may need to do in your relationship with God and then set some goals to get that work done.