When We Feel Wilted or Discarded

Last year after Easter, I drove by the 300+-year-old church cemetery near my home and noticed a pile of about 20 or so Easter lilies, all wilted, sadly discarded, unloved, awaiting their trashly demise. I felt the same way the Easter lilies did.

I wheeled in, pulled over, spread out my yoga mat in my trunk and placed every one of those plants inside. You see, an Easter lily is a perennial. It will come back to life each year and bloom. So many people, so many churches, throw them away after Easter, thinking their purpose is done.  I hauled them all home,  gave some of them to neighbors who wanted to reuse/replant them. Mom and I planted the rest in my yard and some at the end of my street. It thrills my soul to now see them popping up from the ground, almost a year later. They are destined to bloom again.

Do you ever feel like a wilted, discarded Easter lily? I do. God looks at us as perennials. We may have our personal wilting, decaying periods, but He sees our potential. He knows when we are tended and nurtured, we will grow and bloom again and again.

Last year I learned yet another sweet lesson from my precious Mom, the horticulturist. She came over to my home to help plant some caladium bulbs, which we both love in our yards. She brought eight bags of bulbs, a total of 64 bulbs to plant. One by one, we dug a hole, scooped the soil in, planted the bulb, fertilized, and watered. We planted them all around my big oak tree in the front yard, then the rest along the front flower bed.

When we finished,  she did something I had not remembered her doing before. She offered to pray for them, for the newly planted caladium bulbs. As we both stood in the front yard, sweaty, knees covered with dirt from kneeling, she offered a prayer that I can still hear:

“Dear Lord, they’re in the ground now. Please help these bulbs grow well and thrive so that Danya and her neighbors can enjoy Your beauty. Thank You for creating even these bulbs that remind us of You. Thank you, Lord. We love You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

I had a lump in my throat as we picked up our yard tools and cleaned ourselves off inside the garage. I had no doubt those bulbs would come up, their elephant-ear faces smiling toward heaven.  They grew and flourished,  every single one.

Have you ever prayed over seeds, bulbs you’ve planted? Do you, do we pray before any endeavor?

Similarly, how do we plant seeds/bulbs of encouragement? I encourage you to start today. It could be smiling at the grocery store cashier, looking her in the eye and asking how she’s doing. It could be to pull your neighbor’s emptied trash receptacle to the side of the house, so that he/she doesn’t have to do it when he comes home from work. It could be inviting your neighbor or coworker to church or Bible study.

We are blessed with endless possibilities of ways to plant seeds of encouragement in people around us. Remember, the Holy Spirit germinates those seeds in His timing.   If you feeling wilted or discarded, be encouraged today.Remember, each of us is a perennial.

Reflect:

–Am I acting like an annual or a perennial?

–What (or whom) have you discarded, not realizing its potential?

–How can I plant seeds or bulbs of encouragement ?

Renew:

–“Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.”  –1 Corinthians 3:5-7 NIV84

Recharge:

–Consider praying before every endeavor. Please comment.

Feeling Like a Prune

Welcome to the 2015 first full week of Daylight Savings Time. Although it’s not officially springtime yet, the warm sunshine on my face this past weekend caused spring fever to rise within me.

All around my yard this weekend I noticed how much all my dead-looking plants and bushes need pruning back, so that they sprout back out and flourish.  It reminds me of what God is doing in me, in us, as we prepare our hearts and minds for Easter.

Divine pruning sure is a hard concept to grasp. I do liken it to the annual pruning back of the crepe myrtles, roses, and lantana in my yard. After the hardest freeze of the winter, all the dead growth is cut off, so the bushes or trees are almost level to the ground, ugly and barren. By waiting just a few months, they completely bud back out and blossom, many times even more beautiful and healthier than before.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…” (John 15:1-2 NIV)

So often we don’t understand why God divinely prunes us down to our raw, barren nakedness. These times are the toughest on us. Many of us normal people, and even some of the most Godly, inspiring people in my lives, have at one point or another been stripped of everything except our faith.  By trusting in God, He knows we will bud back out and blossom, even more beautifully and more healthy than before.

God also has to divinely prune us to bear more of His Fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit IS love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).

Notice the verb “is” instead of “are” after the word “Spirit.” That means that all nine fruit are one, not separate. We strive through the Holy Spirit for all nine. What a high calling, impossible to do on our own without Him.

I am my mother’s daughter. We share a deep love for flowers and plants. Growing up, our yard was always immaculately landscaped. Mom even planted a rose garden in our backyard, which expanded until we had more than 100 lovely roses, taking up more than half the yard.

So vividly I remember a wrought iron placard she had staked at the entrance trellis of the rose garden. It was a quote by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932), English devotional writer and poet:

“The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, one is nearer God’s Heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth.”

Mom’s rose garden was a small paradise, although I didn’t realize it at the time.

One of my chores growing up was to “deadhead” the roses after school. I didn’t realize what a gift it was to inhale the fragrance and witness the beauty, without getting pricked by thorns, as I carefully clipped the dead roses and left the blooming roses. By me pruning off the dead growth, I was allowing space and freedom for the rose to bloom again, bigger and better than even before. What a sweet analogy for our faith.

In each room in my home growing up was a daily bouquet of freshly cut roses. I didn’t realize that all houses didn’t have this blessing. One of Mom’s ministries was to take roses to our church’s members who were hospitalized or home-bound. I know people were blessed by this outreach.

Mom depended on my chore of  “deadheading” the roses for them to grow, bloom and bless others. I know I took this gift of fresh roses, this ministry for granted. Such valuable life lessons were taught in that garden.

May our souls continue to rise with spring fever as we divinely prune within.

Elisabeth Elliot, in her classic book Passion and Purity, so beautifully and poignantly writes,

“There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul…” p. 163.

Reflect:

–To what are you holding on too tightly?

–What or whom in your life is stunting your growth and needs divinely pruning?

Renew:

–“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43 NIV)

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”(John 15:16-17 NIV)

Recharge:

—-What is your plan to divinely prune those people/items out of your life?

— How will you bear fruit this week?

Resource:

Elliot, Elisabeth.   1984. Passion and Purity.  Grand Rapids: Revell.

Are You Bearing Fruit or Flashy Foliage? Post #49

Autumn's Majesty

On this first day of autumn, I thought it appropriate to ask ourselves a reflective question. Would you say you bear fruit or foliage?

How many of us have driven hours upon hours to the mountains of NC or even flown to the Northeast in the autumn to spend a weekend “leaf looking”? I admit I drive to Blowing Rock, NC every autumn to enjoy the glorious majesty of the spectacular foliage, too breathtaking to capture properly on canvas or camera.

The majestic transformation of the leaves in the mountains or in the Northeast is a sight to behold–for a few weeks. It is amazing to think that this beauty only lasts a mere three weeks or so. Then the leaves fall from the trees, withering and dying on the ground, crunching beneath our feet.

To that end, would you even walk across the street to see an apple tree ready to harvest? To see apples hanging on the limbs juicy and ripe, enough to feed a family sustainably for days, weeks, or years if needed? Sadly, the answer is probably an under-the-breath “no.”

Bearing fruit for Jesus Christ to better God’s Kingdom is not a glamorous job. How many of us have started off doing a service for God, only to slack off in just a few weeks and get tired?

“‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples….You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.'”–John 15:5-8, 16. NIV84

The message is that simple, is that hard. Let’s roll up our sleeves, delve into God’s Word daily, work diligently for the Lord and bear much fruit. Like the apple trees, we will bear much fruit for God’s Kingdom, for eternity–true eternal sustanance.

Reflect:

–What are your plans to bear more fruit? Please comment.

–How can you encourage the “flashy foliage” bearers in your life? Please comment.

Renew:

–“‘ Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.'” –Matthew 7:15-20 NIV 84

–“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” –Galatians 5:22 NIV84

Recharge:

–“If Christ, the heavenly Vine, has taken the believer as a branch, then He has pledged Himself, in the very nature of things, to supply the sap and spirit and nourishment to make it bring forth fruit…The soul need but have one care—to abide closely, fully, wholly. He will give the fruit. He works all that is needed to make the believer a blessing.” –Andrew Murray