"Does God Really Care?"

The last two evenings God has really placed on my heart the desire to tackle the landscaping around the house. Why? Well, it is spring after all and things are growing at a very healthy rate. The hedges needed trimming, yard needed cutting, and things need to be weeded and edged. Really we don't have a huge yard, but in reality I don't think it is any less then we had before.

As I was working today on the hedges, God began to impress on me why I was doing it. Sure, I needed to make sure it was done, otherwise we would face the consequences by the HOA for not doing our share in keeping our home and yard nice and neat. Then I begin to question why? Why was I so concerned? Sure, I am a rule follower and did not want to break any rules but really ~ those who are associated with our HOA aren't living in our neighborhood to be doing daily checks. None the less, keeping them pleased was a motivation ~ but not the only one. I WANTED our home to look nice, not only because it shows how much we care about our home (and those in it), but .... let's face it. A well kept yard is welcoming to guests, strangers and is a nice thing to come home to every day. So the idea became "Does God really care?". Does God really care about how we keep our homes? I am sure He does! There are many scriptures about taking care of our homes, not for prideful reasons, but for the simple form of worship and being thankful for what God has given us. Do we, The King's believe that God was in the midst of purchasing our home, and moving in this particular house, on this street, in this neighborhood? Absolutely! We truly believe that as a family!

Then the thoughts went to... does God really care about how we take care of our homes ~ the physical ones ~ our bodies?! Well, just as any house is unique and it's own, so are we! NONE of us look exactly alike. I mean, I have a "mini me" living with me ~ who looks just like me, yet there are many differences between us. (The 26 years between us doesn't count though!) God began to impress on me that HE is indeed like an HOA (Home Owner's Association) and has given us rules for taking care of our "homes" even to the point that He called them a temple for the Holy Spirit. We are instructed to live in a way ~ and if we would just take the time to look at His guidelines .... and LIVE them out He would clearly not only give us a FULL life, we will not get "fined" (blessings lost, trials, etc...) or rebuked, but instead praised! And we won't have to be the ones "praising" ourselves! How many do you know that put so much time and effort into building a "perfect body" yet without having the correct foundation (spiritual health) to continue for a life time? Me? I see it in this world every day ~ all day, day in and day out. I see people living to run the fastest just to say they could. I see people cutting out dessert all in the name of 'willpower'.

Each and every day I praise God that He took me out of a continued diet cycle and instead replaced it with a life that is searching for Him, in every and anything around me. I see Him in the birds that sing in the morning. In fact, I saw one actually worshiping this morning. PURE worship! You will never understand what I am saying until you can see it for yourself!

Just as I am not afraid nor ashamed of doing what the HOA asks of us, I am NOT ashamed of doing what God asks of us too! In fact in some ways i truly DO believe God is like the HOA of our lives ~ as we are to be living for HIM and by his restrictions.