The Need to Maintain

The renovations are done and the house is back in shape!!! which would explain why yesterday's post is happening today

See my pretty new hall???  I love, love, love it!  And I love it that the fridge is there, so the kids can play with the magnets and not get under my feet.
I love the boy's room.  I can't wait to put some wall stickers up!
I am slightly less thrilled with our room - but it's a work sitll in progress and at least the blue paint matches our quilt (which was hanging on the line when this picture was taken).
I am over the moon with my kitchen!  I love the color!!!  I love my new ceiling!!  I love it that I have counters!!  I just love it!

5 days of renovation work, 9 hours of clean up, and 10 + loads of laundry and our house is back into order. 
Funny thing though - it never stays this nice.  Ha! I have 2 toddlers - it doesn't stay this nice for 2 hours together!
It's called "maintenance".  To maintain a clean house means daily picking up toys, vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom, doing the dishes and laundry, making beds...
If I let my house go for even one day, I would have a disaster on my hands.  I am sure all of you have the same issue.

When God does renovation in our lives, it doesn't mean that the work He did was once-and-for-all.  We have to maintain it. We have to "work out our salvation".  Salvation itself is a free gift, but we have to maintain our relationship with God if we want to keep our life from becoming a mess again.
So often we want God to do all the work.  We pray "Give me patience! Help me to love so-and-so! Make me gentle! Help me to be more consistent in my devotions!"

But consistency, discipline, and the fruits of the spirit are things we have to cultivate and grow in our own lives.  God purposely limits Himself to our will to do what it takes to mature spiritually.  Sure, He could make us patient, but the lessons learned in becoming patient would be bypassed! The character and maturity we would build in our lives would be skipped over. 
Daily Bible reading, prayer, scripture memorization and meditation, fellowship with believers, and regular evaluation of our lives ensures that our spiritual lives maintain order.

We have to regularly allow Him to eliminate worldly things we accumulate along the way that are cluttering up our lives.  We must daily allow the water of His word to wash away the dust and grime, we must allow the sweet oil of fellowship to fill our hearts with His fragrance, we must give careful time for the truths of His Word to strengthen us through careful memorization and meditation.
Because, while we are a work-in-progress, we are living in that home that is being renovated...just like my family and I. It's hard, it's frustrating sometimes, but it must be maintained. 
So, although by the time I went to bed last night with a house that was already cluttered and needing to be vacuumed, and while I bemoaned the fact that my 9 hours of hard labor to clean and organize my home felt wasted, I woke up this morning and learned this very valuable lesson.

What are you doing to maintain your spiritual life?
Do you need a jump start to help you gain consistency and discipline?
Are you praying useless prayers, asking God to do what only you can do?
Linking up with some these blogs:

M: Motivation Monday, Gracelaced Mondays, Playdates at the Wellspring, Mom's the Word; Matrimonial Mondays,  T: Titus2 Tuesdays, Women Helping Women,  Mercy Ink,  Character Corner W: Women Living Well, Wisdom Wednesday, Wholehearted Wednesdays, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Deep Roots at Home Th: Thrive at Home, Serving Joyfully F: Faith Filled Friday,  TGIF Fridays Click HERE to find out how you can receive a copy of my book 14 Days of Agape for free and purchase Worship the Father and Discovering True Identity .