Fall has brought with it a flurry of activity here in the neighborhood.  There are jackhammers, saws, bulldozers, mowers and trimmers all abuzz from morning until night.  It seems Fall is the time to put things back in shape, renew them, revitalize, renovate, and restore them to some previous picture of quality.

With so much activity all of the sudden, I can’t help but think what I need to be working on.  What should we be doing with these Fall days to make ourselves renewed, restored, and back in shape?

I know there are any number of things I should be doing – like continuing to exercise, getting adequate sleep, reading and praying, and all the regular suggestions.  But, what might we need to renovate on a deeper level?  What might we need to reconstruct so that we might be able to be the picture of quality that God intends for us to be?

Is it a renewed sense of forgiveness with the actions to accompany it?  Or, perhaps, is it a restored relationship that we have let languish with the passage of time?  Could it be revitalized communication with co-workers or neighbors?  Or, perhaps, is it a deeper commitment to life in the Spirit and a discipleship that lives and acts on what it believes?

Perhaps this Fall would be a great time to take up the grace of renovation and ask ourselves what needs to be renewed and reshaped in our own lives.  The jackhammers, saws and bulldozers will provide the background music for our efforts.