Ready for the Call

Keeping our home constantly ready for potential buyers to visit is challenging. The preparation involved is teaching me spiritual lessons as well.

“You have a requested showing in two hours. Do you accept or decline?” Panic set in. Having only had our home on the market since the previous day, I wasn’t quite prepared for our big debut!

We had already agreed with our realtor to show our home by appointment only. She had advised us to have our phone constantly “at the ready” to receive notification via phone call, e-mail and/or text message of a desired viewing. If we accepted the request, our home was to be ready to be shown in two hours.

So, with trepidation, I accepted our initial appointment and a mad rush ensued. Though I attempted to enlist the help of our three sons, ages 7, 7 and 5, the Windex bottle quickly became a fascinating study in physics rather than a housekeeping “tool of the trade.” However, in the nick of time, in what felt like moments, we were ready to walk out the door.

A parable of preparation

Upon reflection, I was struck with the similarities between the entire home-selling process and the parable of the 10 virgins. In the parable, Christ tells the story of 10 virgins who were asleep as they awaited the coming bridegroom. Five of the virgins had brought extra oil for their lamps, and five of the virgins had not brought oil to refill their lamps. They all fell asleep because the bridegroom was delayed.

At midnight a cry went out saying, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” (Matthew 25:6). The foolish virgins were running out of oil and could not borrow or buy the oil in time, so they were left out of the wedding. The five wise virgins were allowed into the wedding supper because they were prepared.

Just as the virgins had to be prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, our house had to be ready on short notice. I found that the keys to keeping our physical house ready for showing also applied to keeping our spiritual lamps ready.

Preparation is crucial

It takes much preparation to be ready to sell your home. Though people find it humorous that homes often look their best when the owners are ready to sell and move, it is obvious that a home won’t be easy to sell in a state of disaster anymore than a lamp will be an instrument of value with no oil.

Sometimes it takes a period of spiritual “catch-up” and examination to determine what we need to do to be prepared for the return of Christ. The spring festivals are an excellent time to determine what areas are in need of “repair” and to put an action plan in place to address them. Of course, we need to continue that plan after the festivals. And any time of year is a good time to initiate improvements!

Constant vigilance

On occasion in the past, if there were a mess somewhere in the house, I would ignore it until later. Right now, messes cannot be ignored. They must be dealt with immediately.

Spiritually, we can’t wait until tomorrow to correct the sins that we see in our lives. They must be addressed quickly. Since we do not know the hour in which Christ will come or, for that matter, when our time “might be up,” we have no way of knowing if we will have until “tomorrow” to correct our sins.

A system

In order to make sure that the house is ready for a showing, I had to come up with a system for getting it prepared: a “to-do” list (turn on lights, wipe down sink, etc.), a place to quickly store items and a priority list to make sure the most important tasks are completed.

Spiritual preparedness also demands a system. For example: when and how we will study and pray, a schedule for fasting, a strategy for self-improvement, a plan for greater hospitality, etc. A plan of action will help us be more certain that we will be spiritually prepared instead of relying on a haphazard approach, which can often result in last-minute alarm and panic.

The feedback from our initial showing was very positive and included a note regarding the obvious effort that had been extended.

The final spiritual feedback we hope to receive from our Creator and Savior is found in Matthew 25:23: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Rhonda lives with her husband, Bryan near Houston, Texas. They have three children: Harrison, Jackson and Anderson. The family is in the process of selling their home and moving to a small farm.