family life, spiritual life

A house in order

JOY journal

“I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.” Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher

Our home sits in a neighborhood in which the average age of dwellings is about 100 years. People in some places of the world might not think a thing of such age but, in America, a century-old house is a rather rare thing. We are a newer, faster, bigger, louder type of place.

Whether perceived as good or bad, 100 years of age on a house means a great deal of upkeep. Indeed, it seems like something is always peeling, leaking or collapsing. And, when one thing goes, it often leads to some other surprising and generally expensive repair.

Given this fact, I am not surprised to still hear hammers going so late in the season. It’s hard to get on a contractor’s list. You take what you can get. What is surprising is that the noise of roofers installing shingles and rotating trucks pouring concrete steps and painters listening to loud music of every sort has been a daily presence since mid-April.

It’s true. As soon as the initial COVID quarantine lifted, the entire neighborhood decided to literally get its house in order. And, this thinking is not limited to just dwellings. All of 2020 seems to carry this theme. Practically every Millennial I know has gotten married in the last six months — nearly 20 couples. People have moved. People have lost weight, written out wills. People have changed schools, jobs, even careers.

COVID has brought on a global reckoning.

But, oddly and sadly, this reckoning has not brought on revival. Churches are all but closed and few seem to be concerned. Not only is little said about getting one’s spiritual house in order, some Americans seem to think the time is ripe to embrace speech and behavior that bears little resemblance to Christ, speech and behavior that threatens to tear our national house down.

It’s something to think about. A house in order is a lovely thing. It’s good to know the rain and snow and cold will be kept at bay. But, a spirit that’s in order is lovelier still as it, in fact, keeps death itself firmly outside the door. God help us. Forever is a very long time.

Published by JOY journal

After a long career writing for local newspapers — and, on rare occasions, for publications such as The Washington Post — Nora's word life is now focused on blogging and occasional writing projects of special interest. Also the author of several books, Nora lives in Appalachia with her husband and a goodish dog named Finn, who is delighted whenever the family's two adult daughters are home from college.

27 thoughts on “A house in order”

      1. A while ago someone did some calculating based on the story in of Abraham’s praying for Sodom. (Genesis 19:16-33) God told him that if there were ten righteous people in the city, it would be spared. (Apparently there weren’t.) This person looked up the population of Sodom at that time, then the present population of the U.S. and did the math. They stated that if God could find a million righteous people in America, He might spare us….

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      2. Hmmm. That’s truly sobering — a mere one for every 330 Americans, assuming Jesus is interceding for us in lieu of Abraham. I would surely hope there are a million of us — including my household, please, Lord Jesus — that God counts as righteous. I think I’m going to start praying for a righteous remnant big enough to count!

        Have a blessed start to a new week!

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  4. I too, am concerned that although “normal” is somewhat in sight, very little has been accomplished in our churches. Not much of a revival has been spurred. The “Return” last week in Washington was noteworthy. God still has a people faithful to him.

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  5. Oh this is so very true and terribly sobering. How sad for many in Christ’s body to be missing the opportunity the Lord has given us through COVID to slow down, reevaluate our lives, draw close to Him, and allow Him to do some much needed remodeling & reconstructing work in our hearts and lives.

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    1. We are in West Virginia, in the Appalachian region of the U.S. My city is 251 years old, but the oldest building that is still standing is a church that was built in 1825. A flood of construction happened in the early 1900s that has been miraculously maintained. 🙂

      Have a blessed Thanksgiving if you are in the U.S.!

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