Living on a ranch, it seems there’s always maintenance that needs to be done.  Fence posts and boards break, faucets leak, the arena gets too dusty, the footing in the barn erodes, the tractor needs oil and lubrication, the arena cover is dirty, the pasture needs to be dragged (again!), the lawn needs to be mowed, weeds grow in the pastures… The list goes on and on.  I don’t remember a time we didn’t have maintenance of some sort to do.  If we let things go for too long, it gets overwhelming and the ranch begins to look in disrepair.  Then when we do get back to maintenance it takes more time and work.  

What about our spiritual lives?  Isn’t the same true for that?  We need to take time for daily maintenance in our spiritual lives to keep the weeds from taking over.  We need to clean out the clutter in our lives to allow space for good things.  We need to pray daily and read Scripture to maintain our relationship with God.  If we let things go too long without working to maintain our spiritual lives, we could wake up one day to find it in disrepair with an overwhelming amount of work to do to fix it.  Habits are hard to break, so be sure to create good, healthy ones.  This year, make it a habit to do the necessary maintenance for your spiritual life.  

Read I John 1:5-10, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Annie

today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+1%3A5-10&version=NRSV