Towards the last of April, the trustees decided to repaint the parsonage.   Star Light (women’s group) offered to buy the paint,  Sharaon  Hinderks picked out the colors, the men’s group collected money for the project as well, and Gary Klein provided a couple of painters to do the job.   Equipment was rented.  First they washed the house with a power washer, they next put an undercoating on to kill the mold growing on the house, they made some needed repairs and the paint went on.    In that, except for the door and the shutters the painters sprayed the paint, all the neighbors watched with much interest.    All this was done over about three days between rains.    The end result is the parsonage looks fabulous!   Hilton Sander even finished the job off by putting up a new mail box post.   It really does not look like the same house.

As I was standing there admiring the work of the painters and thinking about how changing the outside of the house sure makes the house look different it came to me  the truth is paint does not change a house, it just covers up all the wear and tear.    What makes a house a good house is not the paint is it?   It is the structure of the house or what is hidden from view.

Well, that is the same for each of us.  We have the part of us we show to others.  I guess we could call that, using real state jargon, our curb appeal.    However, like a house what really matters is what people cannot see.   What they cannot see is what is in our hearts.   Our church teaches us, as does our Bible, that our hearts are the dwelling place of God.   I am using a prayer written by Augustine of Hippo on the first Sunday of Pentecost (May 23).  In the prayer Augustine prays for the Spirit to enlighten the dark corners of his neglected dwelling, water the barren soil run over with weeds and briars.  Make the dwelling place fruitful with your dew from heaven.   Of course Augustine is speaking about his heart.   

As we remember the birth of the church, the Holy Spirit which rained and rains down upon the faithful, seeking a home in each of our hearts, let us remember our hearts really are like a garden.   What grows there has an awful lot to do with the seeds we plant.   And oh by the way, just like a garden sometimes our hearts need to be weeded.   Things like anger, greed, self-centeredness, envy, jealousy, pride, to list a few, need to not be allowed to grow there. 

The best way to weed the garden is to begin with confession, naming the weeds, and then simply refuse to make a place for all to grow.   

 

Bill