There are many things that I love about my husband. The one particular thing that I love about him, is that he is a visionary. He's one of these guys that when you show him a broken down building, he doesn't see the state that's in, but the potential, and what it could be.
I'm writing this blog today because of a plant. A pumpkin seedling. Our youngest son Hudson came home one day from Kindergarten with a pumpkin seedling in a Styrofoam cup. My husband along with being a visionary, loves a challenge. Hudson has bringing home this pumpkin seed, inspired Derek to take on the challenge to actually grow a pumpkin out of it, despite the very fact that it's winter, in Calgary, in Canada. No matter, we are going to get pumpkins out of that seedling no matter what!!!
So the seedling actually grew into two vines, and it had to be transplanted into a bigger pot. Derek faithfully watered it every day, and actually blew on it to give it Co2... not even joking. Well it started to grow two stems, and it got to be so high that he put a steel pole in the pot to support the stems. Well shortly after that, somehow the leaves and one stem died, or broke somehow. And just yesterday I looked at this poor thing, and it only has one drooping stem, without a leaf left. I looked tenderly at my husband and said "I'm sorry hon, but I think it's time to call it.. the time of death". The next thing that Derek showed me is what inspired me to write this blog: With excitement like a little child he exclaimed "No way.. look there are two leaves still there.. barely budding, but they are budding!" hahahaha. I couldn't believe it, he was right, I had to squint, and had to take the magnifying class, but low and behold the budding leaves were there.Well my head started to fill with this analogy:
This is exactly how God looks at us. We may see a withered,tired, and even dead dream or desire, but God sees what we cannot see most times...LIFE, POTENTIAL, NEW BEGINNINGS. Our family is walking in a season of rebuilding. Philippians 1:6 says "And I'm convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you , will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you". Proverbs 19:11" A man's wisdom gives him patience."
God is always at work in our lives. We may not see it, the timing is almost never according to our own, and sometimes we may feel that He is silent and far far away. So how does one keep going when we only see barrenness, and witherings? Well I can only tell you what I do from my experience. Through this season of barrenness I drew closer to the Word of God. God always uses His way to speak to us individually. I believe that the promises He told the prophets, and Moses, and David, and Paul, and Ruth, and the teachings of Jesus still apply today.
What seed has God planted in your heart? What have you done to water, feed and nurture that seed? Do you speak to that seed the promises and principles of the Bible? Has the dream died and need to be resurrected again? I serve a God that raises the dead! Romans 8:11" And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He was dead for four days! So he was already rotting and smelling. All Jesus had to do was SPEAK to Lazarus to rise. Jesus then told the people to remove his grave cloths. What grave cloths do YOU have to remove in order to have your dream resurrected? Have you had a financial loss? A divorce? Are you struggling with an addiction? I encourage you to remove the grave cloths of doubt, fear,disbelief,anger,bitterness.
I love to watch people walk into their freedom. Sometimes we are the ones that are blocking our own dreams from happening. We start to allow the fear,and doubt, and the shame to cloud our VISION. I have to challenge myself to see the VISION that God instilled in me. I encourage you to not see the withering plant, the broken down building, the barren field, but instead look closer and see the little buds that are still ALIVE!!
There is always HOPE
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Choosing to see the beauty through the ugly
As I start to write on a blank, fresh page, I ponder and reflect on the last 2.5 years of my life. If I could use one word to sum it all up. PRUNING. The very word just sounds awful. What does a season of pruning look like? Well I can't speak for anyone else but myself and I will try to give you the best visual that I possibly can with my words.
There are different degrees to cuts, and wounds. The deeper the cut,the longer the healing process is. It's not rocket science, it's actually quite simple. When we compare a person who gets cut by a knife while cutting celery, to someone who undergoes open heart surgery, who is going to take longer to heal? Obvious answer right? Well, let's put that in life realities. A lot of times we will watch someone go through a healing process of some type. And lot of times we can put judgement on that person to start moving on with their life, and "get over it". Well after a week of recovery from heart surgery do we tell the patient to suck it up and go for a good jog around the block? Of course not, because if that happened, major complications could occur. Well the same analogy applies to life's cuts, and bruises. We need to allow ourselves to heal, we need to take the steps to heal. Because if we don't, we can re-injure ourselves, and the healing process can take that much longer.
There also comes a point in the healing process when you do NEED to get up, and starting running again. Because if we don't, strength cannot be built. If you have witnessed anyone doing physio after a painful injury, it's torture for them. But when guided, and pushed by the physio therapist, healing, strength and range of motion come back to the injured part of the body. I'm sure you can see where I'm getting at.
Let me try to paint a picture in your mind that of a pruned tree: First word, ugly, desolate, isolated, lonely, bare, plain,gray,lifeless, fruitless. Now that is what we see on the OUTSIDE. What we don't see is what's going on on the inside of the tree. The tree is preparing itself inside to WAIT for the right season to blossom. What's the whole point of pruning a tree or bush? So that in the right season, the branches, and leaves are FULLER, and therefore allowing the tree to produce MORE fruit than it has ever before.
Now let me paint you the picture of a fully blossomed tree AFTER the pruning stages: Luscious in color, bountiful,beautiful, plentiful,full,lots and lots of juicy fruit, or whatever that tree produces. Now it's easy to judge that tree and be attracted to it, and want to draw to it and from it. However if we didn't know that tree from the beginning stages we would never know what that poor tree had to go through in order to be able to produce such raw beauty.
It's easy for us to judge someone else's outside, as it may look messy, bare,ugly,dysfunctional. God's word talks about how one can identify what kind of tree it is, by what kind of fruit it bears. However it's quite hard to identify what kind of tree it is before their season of pruning is over. Unless you are a tree expert, you can't tell an orange tree from an apple tree without it's fruit on it's branches can you? My point? We may not see fruit in someone else's life,but little do we know that they may be in a season of no fruit, but that of preparing for all the fruit to come. And to bear a lot of fruit, one needs to build the strength to produce it.
Through all this "pruning" that I have experienced in my life, I have learned so much, but if I could write about just one thing it is this: Allow people to be themselves. Allow them to heal on THEIR time, not on your expectations. You are there to guide,love, and help them through the "physio" time, but only when they ASK you.
We can't expect people to bear the fruit that they have been asked to bear on our time table. That's why I believe building relationships with people, especially those that are different from us,are so important. Because even though some one's "outside" (I'm not talking about physical outside, but metaphorically life) may look "ugly" and unattractive, little do we know, what kind of beautiful miracle is going on on the inside.
There are different degrees to cuts, and wounds. The deeper the cut,the longer the healing process is. It's not rocket science, it's actually quite simple. When we compare a person who gets cut by a knife while cutting celery, to someone who undergoes open heart surgery, who is going to take longer to heal? Obvious answer right? Well, let's put that in life realities. A lot of times we will watch someone go through a healing process of some type. And lot of times we can put judgement on that person to start moving on with their life, and "get over it". Well after a week of recovery from heart surgery do we tell the patient to suck it up and go for a good jog around the block? Of course not, because if that happened, major complications could occur. Well the same analogy applies to life's cuts, and bruises. We need to allow ourselves to heal, we need to take the steps to heal. Because if we don't, we can re-injure ourselves, and the healing process can take that much longer.
There also comes a point in the healing process when you do NEED to get up, and starting running again. Because if we don't, strength cannot be built. If you have witnessed anyone doing physio after a painful injury, it's torture for them. But when guided, and pushed by the physio therapist, healing, strength and range of motion come back to the injured part of the body. I'm sure you can see where I'm getting at.
Let me try to paint a picture in your mind that of a pruned tree: First word, ugly, desolate, isolated, lonely, bare, plain,gray,lifeless, fruitless. Now that is what we see on the OUTSIDE. What we don't see is what's going on on the inside of the tree. The tree is preparing itself inside to WAIT for the right season to blossom. What's the whole point of pruning a tree or bush? So that in the right season, the branches, and leaves are FULLER, and therefore allowing the tree to produce MORE fruit than it has ever before.
Now let me paint you the picture of a fully blossomed tree AFTER the pruning stages: Luscious in color, bountiful,beautiful, plentiful,full,lots and lots of juicy fruit, or whatever that tree produces. Now it's easy to judge that tree and be attracted to it, and want to draw to it and from it. However if we didn't know that tree from the beginning stages we would never know what that poor tree had to go through in order to be able to produce such raw beauty.
It's easy for us to judge someone else's outside, as it may look messy, bare,ugly,dysfunctional. God's word talks about how one can identify what kind of tree it is, by what kind of fruit it bears. However it's quite hard to identify what kind of tree it is before their season of pruning is over. Unless you are a tree expert, you can't tell an orange tree from an apple tree without it's fruit on it's branches can you? My point? We may not see fruit in someone else's life,but little do we know that they may be in a season of no fruit, but that of preparing for all the fruit to come. And to bear a lot of fruit, one needs to build the strength to produce it.
Through all this "pruning" that I have experienced in my life, I have learned so much, but if I could write about just one thing it is this: Allow people to be themselves. Allow them to heal on THEIR time, not on your expectations. You are there to guide,love, and help them through the "physio" time, but only when they ASK you.
We can't expect people to bear the fruit that they have been asked to bear on our time table. That's why I believe building relationships with people, especially those that are different from us,are so important. Because even though some one's "outside" (I'm not talking about physical outside, but metaphorically life) may look "ugly" and unattractive, little do we know, what kind of beautiful miracle is going on on the inside.
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