Well I have been living on an extended weekend. Everyday has seemed like a Saturday (except we have no soccer games to run off to). Between family camp and a wonderful trip to Hawaii and the recover time from all the planning and packing to unpacking...well...life has seemed to be on one big long weekend. It has been great too, a much needed time of relaxing and rejuvenating.
However, things still pile up and weeds still grow!
So this fine Saturday morning, I thought I should get to some of those overgrown weeds out back. I had noticed some growing in my blueberry bush in June and had thought, "Ah I will get to those soon." Here is it nearing August, needless to say, they had overtaken the plant.
As I pulled- I had to dig down and some of those roots seemed to have made their way all the way down to the bottom of the barrel. It was surprising how big they had gotten and as I yanked and tugged and flicked soil up all over me in the process, some things stood out that relate to life. Nothing profound, but just some gritty little truths.
First off as I tugged on the weeds and realized how set those roots were- I was reminded about the ways of this world and how we can start off with just a little seed- if you will- and once the seed is set it can implant itself so deeply that it begins to look like more of who we are and distort us. For we are children of God, to be filled with joy and hope of what is to come, but we can so quickly start to look like those who have no hope- wandering through life aimlessly- too focused on the moment at hand.
I also saw as I tugged those big weeds out that some soil was lost with it. Soil giving life to the plant as the Word is our nutrition for living-and at first I was like- geesh- that stinks, but then realized how easy it is to refill. I have a bag of fresh soil in the garage waiting- just as we always have the Word at our fingertips to refill our needing souls.
Lastly, I rejoiced in two things-
One- it cleaned up pretty quick. See the blueberry plant was well established and maybe had it not been being nurtured a little over these past couple of months it may have not made it- but it had faithfully been watered and it really was pretty healthy in spite of the overgrowth of weeds that had taken root.
And this was a sweet blessing for me to take in. For I have been established but the hard knocks of life have overtaken me. I have had some big obstacles I have been up against and am still up against. However, the Holy Spirit has nurtured me- though at times I have been just sustaining- He has kept me watered enough. And so seeing how beautiful the blueberry bush looks now with that rich soil and the lush leaves and the fruit that is growing on it- it is a picture of hope this morning for my soul.
The second awesome part of it is that it is free again to just focus on doing what it was created to do- bear fruit. It has been freed from the things beneath the soil that has been battling with its root base. Those things are pulled out now and so it is free to do what it is suppose to do. That is a marvelous thing! For many things cause battles inside of us- grief, addictions, hatred, selfishness- the list could go on and on- but what an amazing thing to be freed.
I just read Galatians this past week and it all just ties in so perfectly (so like God). As the book talks much about our freedom. O I pray we walk in the freedom we have in Him, that we understand really what that means (for our society has a misconstrued definition of freedom), and that we are full of love and joy and hope- for those are the most precious possessions we can have.
Blessings on your day today!
