Today's guest post is from Madona Seedhom - a dear friend of mine and an original founding member of St. Timothy & St. Athanaisus church who has guest posted on my blog before.  You can follow her on twitter, @MSeed0906.  If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.

I just bought a new car.  Exciting, huh?  Maybe not for you, but if you’d seen the car I’ve been driving around for the past year, trust me, you’d be excited too.

My last car didn’t have a sideview mirror – I mean it used to have one, but not anymore.  It also didn’t have air conditioning.  And even if it did, I couldn’t have used it because the temperature knob has broken for months.  So I couldn’t even try to pretend that the 900 degree temperature in my car during summer was by choice.

I got to the point where I couldn’t have cared less about that car.

I didn’t care if I parked next to rampant shopping carts in the lot or too close for comfort by a pole.  I prayed someone would ram into it so I could at least collect insurance on it.  At one point, I got an estimate — it cost as much as it was worth to fix it.  I never washed it or vacuumed it.  What did it matter anyway?  It was a piece of junk.  Mind you, I’m normally pretty care free, but that car took me to a whole new level.

But everything’s different with the new car.  Not even close.  I will guard this car with my life.  Everything is now the enemy of my new car.

When I get into the new car, my eyes are wide open.  I’m vigilant about anything that could taint it.  Dust particles are now boulders of filth.  Poles are giant dent traps.  Even pedestrians (human life) are in second place to my car.  I inch out of my parking spaces ever so carefully and I wipe down my dashboard as often as I can.  And I wouldn’t dare leave a water bottle in it!  I protect my new car with everything I have in me.

I didn’t notice what level of anxiety I had over my new car until the other day – when I threw my hands up in the air with disgust as someone pulled out in front of me, only to notice it was one of my new co-workers.  I felt so bad and so embarrassed.  It got me thinking: what in life is so important that I would guard it this way?

The answer?  Nothing.  Well, nothing that this world has to offer at least.

Then I thought about my spiritual life.  I’ve gotten to points before where I felt like I was so worthless that I really didn’t care anymore.  I was apathetic.  I put no effort into it because I felt it was beyond having value – it was worthless.  I didn’t care if people tarnished it or diminished it.  My spiritual life was just shy of being thrown into a junkyard anyway.  At least that’s how I looked at it.

But what if I looked at my spiritual life the way that I look at my new car? 

What if I put the same amount of energy and effort into keeping my spiritual life as pure as I do with my car?  Would I be willing to say no to the things that taint my spiritual life the same way I say no to the things that taint my car?

Maybe my spiritual life isn’t perfect right now.  But if I change my view and start to think about it as something to protect instead of something that’s too far gone, how would that change things?  How would that help me to get back on track and restore God’s plan for my life?

The beauty of life with God is that He has given us His Spirit inside of us.  That means that He sees value in us.  He sees that we are not junk… we are not worthless… we are valuable and worth protecting and that’s why He put His Spirit within us.  So who am I to argue my value?  If He sees me so valuable, shouldn’t I at least protect it for His sake?

I am protective of my new car because I have invested something of great value in it (money).  God is protective of us because He has invested something of even greater value in us (His Spirit).

It’s time for us to realize that our lives are a loan.  He spent more on my life than I will ever spend on all my cars in my lifetime. Now it’s my job to protect it and keep it and return it back in even better condition.

For discussion: how would seeing your life as a loan from God change the way you live?