There are things in life that require upkeep. Here are just a few examples: 

1. Owning a car. This proved true especially with our Espace that we had in France! We were back to the car mechanic every three months! 

2. Children’s ministry volunteers. Recruiting Sunday school volunteers is like doing laundry - you are never finished! It’s a constant process. 

3. Caring for our bodies - exercise and nutrition is a daily commitment. 

4. Forgiveness  

Forgiveness is something that requires upkeep. I need forgiveness from others and I need to give forgiveness on a regular basis. There can be smaller things that showing forgiveness for isn’t very difficult, the little stuff that we can explain away and readily offer forgiveness for. Then there are the bigger wounds or the ongoing hurts that require more prayer and dependance on the Holy Spirit in order to forgive and keep on forgiving.  

I can remember the first time that I really, really struggled to forgive someone. It wasn’t a one-time offense by this person, but continual decisions and actions that wounded me. My heart turned hard toward them. I prayed for help to forgive and it took a couple years until I got to a place where I could honestly say I forgave them. I felt free! I was so thankful! What I didn’t realize was that sense of freedom, that forgiveness, wasn’t necessarily going to remain unchallenged by the enemy. More hurts happened and I started becoming hardened again. I became aware of this and I took inventory of my heart. I found bitterness had begun to grow again. I started praying again about this specific situation. The Lord helped me to replace the bitterness with forgiveness again. But through this I learned the importance of periodically taking inventory of my heart and checking in to see, like the unwanted mold in my basement, if bitterness is starting to grow again.  

If you were to take inventory of your heart today, what would you find?