Adventures in Home Ownership: Part 1 Weeds

I recently bought my first house. Not on purpose, mind you. How is that even possible? Well, when looking for housing in the Twin Cities area, I discovered that renting was much more expensive than a mortgage payment. With some creative help from a mortgage guy, and after 3 weeks of unsuccessfully trying to find a place to rent, we purchased a home.

Up until now, we’ve always rented. I’ve tried, as best we can, to “leave it better than you found it.” The reality though, is that renting doesn’t carry the same intensity. Weeding for example. At my last rental home, I spent some time pulling weeds. I even sprayed the lawn. But prior tenants had left us far behind in the proverbial race. I left it better than I found it, but that still wasn’t great.

Now, my battle with weeds is daily. I am determined that those silly dandelions will not overcome my fescue. Not on my watch. The battle is a daily affair.

I wonder how many people want to rent their faith? Responsibility for maintenance falls to God or at best, the local church. My kid’s faith? Send them to Sunday school or camp once a year. That will take care of it, right? The Great Commission, reaching those who’ve never heard of Jesus with his message and his love? That’s for pastors and paid staff. And “daily working out you faith with fear and trembling,” well, who can blame me? I’m just human right?

No, actually the scriptures teach us that we are partakers in the divine. We are human, but we have the Spirit of God living within us. We have access to eternity and the attentive ear of the Eternal One.

The old saying goes “Nothing works in a house except the owner.”
May that be true of my faith as well.

When I think of owning, it brings a smile because I’m investing in something that over years will be uniquely my family’s. Weeding isn’t because I don’t own the home. Weeding is because of the type of home I want to own. In the same way, works don’t determine our salvation, works clarify and beautify the work that Christ has already done.

Weeding like an owner.