Temples and Tilt a Whirls

The redhead sits in her gray writing room with her snaggle toothed feline companion. The black cat’s steady purr does little to slow the dizzying thoughts spinning round and round in the mind of his favorite person like cars on a tilt a whirl. Thankfully the attention deficit woman with her mind stuck on the carnival ride is experienced at staggering through her racing thoughts to accomplish life’s demands.

This year has been an exciting year for our rural small-town church. The Lord blessed us with a much-needed bigger building.  When the church took possession of the historic three-story furniture store there was much work and many repairs to do. The reconstruction was done by members of our church family and contractors working long hours, side by side with their hearts, hands and minds united to repair the house of the Lord.  

 Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit -1Corinthians 6:19)

For fourteen mornings, as she has read in Chronicles, the redhead has asked herself how she can set her heart on repairing the house of the Lord. Each of God’s children are temples of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who knows our Lord as Savior is under construction while we remain on this earth. We need to cooperate with the Lord as He continues to reconstruct our hearts and our lives. We also need to allow the Holy Spirit to use us to help repair the lives of others, especially those in our houses of faith.

The church is composed of the body of believers and as such the church houses many temples of God, Each of those temples are in continual need of upkeep and repair. Each temple embodies different strengths, different weaknesses, and different needs. What keeps us so inwardly focused on our personal temple that we can’t or won’t help our brothers and sisters repair or upkeep their temples too? Ultimately our pride manifests with its many faces. We compare ourselves with others and become jealous of not only what others have but we become jealous of relationships, too. Soon the spirit of criticism spews like throw up after one too many times on the tilt a whirl.

Offense, anger and unforgiveness water the plant we know as bitterness. The roots of bitterness grow silently but deeply under our temples slowly eating away at our once firm foundations. We try to save face before our friends and family, and we often overcompensate until we fall dizzy on the ground mere feet from the tilt a whirl outside of our temple.

This week’s redhead challenge: Take a prayerful look at what your heart is set on, especially as it pertains to your house of worship, and those you worship with. Is there anything in your own temple that needs repairing? Do you need to prayerfully repent and change your thoughts, attitudes and actions toward anyone you worship with?  Maybe you need to have a tough conversation with God or man. When we refuse to upkeep and repair our temple or aid in the maintenance and repair of the temple of others. we become a backbiting, powerless house of dissension. Once you intentionally set your heart on repairing the house of the Lord, what will you do physically to begin or continue in this never-ending construction process?

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

Sarah Burnette 9-16-22