I am currently enduring a torn up house because we are sanding and polishing the floors in two of our rooms. When it is done, I think we will have two very nice rooms but the process is not exactly pleasant.
It did make me think about our own process of renewal. Most of us could name at least a few qualities, features, or behaviors that could stand to be refinished. Like an old floor, we’ve learned to live with them but when we stop to think about them, we would like them changed.
The problem is that it takes effort to sand and polish these changes to our person. In our reflections, we know it would be nice to have it done. We would even enjoy the new self. But it is hard to “live with a torn up house and the smell” to accomplish the results.
I think it was Ben Franklin who used to make lists of things he would like to change about himself and then proceed to work on them one at a time. What is one thing you would really like to change? If you were to change it, what behaviors would you have to employ? I read somewhere that it takes 28 days to change a habit. That is, if you engaged in a new practice for 28 days, you could alter the pattern of your life in a new direction.
Whether it is developing a habit of brushing your teeth daily or spending one-half-hour reading a passage of scripture for the purpose of listening to what God might say to you through it, there is a spiritual aspect to focusing on the improvment of self. Perhaps it could be a daily practice of choosing one person who you would do something nice for. Maybe it is deliberately identifying three things for which you are thankful for on this day.
Whatever it is, try it for 28 days and see if you like the new shine to who you are.
