Everyone,
then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man
who built his house on rock. The rain
fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did
not fall because it had been founded on rock. And
everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a
foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it
fell—and great was its fall!
I
remember singing a song in the cherub choir as a child. The words seared into my memory still: “The
wise man build his house upon the rock and the rain came pouring down!”
The
question is to look at the foundation of your life? Where are you building? What are you building? Remember that how you spend your day is how
you spend your life. What materials are
you using, which is to say, pay attention to your words and actions. What resources are you sharing and which resources
do you cling tightly to until your knuckles turn white? Pay attention to your life today, with God as
a building inspector. Take time to
investigate the cracks and crevasses and corners filled with cobwebs. How is the basement of your life? What is down there that maybe you need to let
go of? How is the living room, your
heart and soul? Is the interior house
called your life tidy or cluttered and chaotic?
How is your mind, perhaps spinning or swirling with too much
information?
Hear
these words from Henri Nouwen, “This image of God inviting us to God’s home is
used throughout scripture. The Lord is my house. The Lord is my hiding place.
The Lord is my awning. The Lord is my refuge. The Lord is my tent. The Lord is
my temple. The Lord is my dwelling place. The Lord is my home. The Lord is the
place where I want to dwell all the days of my life. God wants to be our room,
our house. He wants to be anything that makes us feel at home. She is like a
bird hugging us under her wings. She is like a woman holding us in her womb.
She is Infinite Mother, Loving Host, Caring Creator, the Good Provider who
invites us to join him.”
Your
life, and mine, is the unfinished house in which we live, says
author Philip Simmons. May this wisdom
help and hold you as we with Jesus say, “Amen”…may it be so…to the Sermon on
the Mount. Amen.