Pastor John,
Today I was outside doing some weeding and yard work. We have a row of bushes in our backyard that have been half dead since we moved in. I can see them out my kitchen window, and lately, I’ve been tired of looking at those dead branches (actually medium size limbs) poking out of the bushes. When I got out there, I saw that they were more dead than I thought. I could just crack those limbs right off. I was really enjoying cracking those limbs off with the feeling, “I don’t want anything dead around here! Only things that are living!” Ha!
There were a lot of weeds wrapped around those limbs that gave them the appearance that they were living, but when I cracked that limb, it was dead to the core. I thought, “Oh God, don’t let me ever have the appearance that I am living when I’m really dead on the inside.” It was more of that feeling of wanting to be real!
It also amazed me how those weeds had vines that wrapped tightly around the limbs. The weeds started out so small at ground level in some areas, but could they take over! I want to keep any “weeds” out of my life. They choke out the life! What good lessons I learned being out there in the yard and thinking on Him.
Carrie