Our house is like a parable. There are many people who look at the outside, the crumbling paint, the porch held up in one corner by a car jack, the weeds overtaking the yard, and think it's abandoned, or at best owned by a slum lord.

Then they come inside. Six months ago, this building was no more than an empty shell: broken windows, violated front door, no appliances or working electricity. The walls had been written on, the floor was once covered in carpet and linoleum, stripped away to reveal filth. The upstairs bathroom, for example, had a rotted out window and leaking cast iron tub. Once removed, it looked like:



Today, walking inside is an experience in resurrection. We've stripped down, painted over, demolished away, wired through, installed new, stained old, tiled on, purchased for, built up, hacked out, sanded down, drilled into, and finally furnished all and moved in to this house that is now our home. It truly is a spiritual experience to watch this transformation of a repossessed old house, considered worthless, into a beautiful treasure, priceless. The work that a couple families and a community of friends can do! It is awe-inspiring. For a taste of the change, check out the finished bathroom:

Meditating on the change, I find an analogy to spiritual awakening. Sure, each physical person has a shell, a body to live in, but without love, purpose or hope a person is just a walking corpse, waiting for the grave. But when the Spirit enters into that shell, the transformation begins. Waking up each day is an opportunity to savor this gift of life. Ordinary acts of love are given eternal purpose. We have the freedom to act from thankfulness instead of self-gain. When the Spirit enters, when life is breathed into the corpse, when people dwell in an empty building, then indeed the dawn rises fresh and bold. A new day begins.