As I was sitting here this morning,
the plants hanging by my window caught my attention…
And as I looked at the branches on one of my plants,
I realized that many of the branches are unhealthy,
twisted up,
and out of control.
They’ve lost their color—
…leaves are brown and withered in some places…
And I realized that the best thing for these plants,
would be for me to trim them back, quite a bit.
Give them a fresh start…
Take some of the weight off.
…to remove these places that are dead and dying…where there is no life.
That this plant may be revived,
and become healthy and stable enough to begin producing
fresh
healthy
branches
…that are full of color…
…and full of life, once again.
It can be just like this for us, in many different kinds of areas of our lives.
Within all different kinds of our ways…
“For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.”—Philippians 2:13
And we may, or may not realize or recognize these areas at times.
But if we listen for the Lord’s whisper, and if we dig deep with Him,
He’ll show us these places.
The areas where the “life” the “vitality”…
the “health”
is no longer there in the branches.
The places in us that just aren’t “living”…
He is aware of these lifeless, out of control branches…
And He knows exactly what we need—
to be revived again.
To return to life…
“…I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”—John 10:10
Refreshed and renewed…
Life-infused and restored and flowing into…
…every branch of our lives.
Within every place of our hearts.
And God—who is like a Gardener 🌱— loves us enough, cares for us enough—to do a work—a deep work.
Perhaps a tough work…perhaps a work that could take a little time and patience.
He may even need to do some uprooting in some places…
And the cutting away of these branches can be painful,
it can be scary,
it’s humbling…
The whole process may tempt us to want to pull away—to avoid…
But He does it because He loves us. 💖
and because He knows what we need—
to be able to form and to grow…
with life and vitality within us, once again.
We can trust that God knows what’s best for us—
Like a Gardener, He tends to our hearts.
He knows how to care for us, so that we may LIVE ABUNDANTLY.
He is the lover of our souls.
He will cut away the things that weigh us down,
the things in our lives that try to pull our branches down…
the faded, twisted up, dying branches…
And He leads us into LIFE…
He leads us in the way everlasting.
A life LIVED, that we might FLOURISH.
“And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”—Psalm 139:24
And if we follow Him,
if we commit to allowing Him to do this work in our hearts and in our lives…
He’ll lead us into abundant LIFE,
in
every
single
area
of our lives. ✨
LIFE will come into places we never would have DREAMED we’d see it.
He’s faithful and He’s committed. ☀️ He invites us to let Him in…
…And we’ll get to marvel at the beautiful, miraculous work that He longs to do in each one of us.
Thank You, Father. 💝 This kind of work may be hard while we’re in the middle of it, but You know just how much it will all be worth it for us, and for Your purposes. Thank You for never giving up on us, thank You for inviting us into abundant LIFE with You.
“He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. 3 The words I have spoken over you have already cleansed you. 4 So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine.”—John 15:2-4 TPT
-Heather 🌺