Getting to the Light

Have you ever talked to your plants? They say it is healthy for them when you talk to them. I've never been able to develop that habit of talking to them, but I do love them, water them and nurture them, but just don't verbalize it.  

My gardening thumb could be classified as 'light green'.  Plants live under my care, but I have a long way to go!  But, there is one plant I excel at growing.  I don't even know the name of it, but on my front porch it enjoys just the right amount of light, water and fertilizer and it abounds.  It overflows each year and truly thrives. It is my favorite plant!

During the winter care is taken to protect it from the cold. It is covered during nights when frost threatens.  Somehow this winter, even when covered, the frost bit it...deeply.  In the past once it is uncovered and the warmth of the sun returns, new growth springs forth quickly. As spring approached I eagerly waited for signs of life. The plant was hit pretty hard and had lots of dead leaves and branches on it. Very few green leaves appeared. I watered it, fertilized it, kept it in its usual spot, all to no avail. One morning I took a deep look at it and began pulling out the dead leaves. They were everywhere, on the edges, covering the bottom of the soil, entwined in the branches. The usual picking off dead leaves wasn't working, it needed a deep sweep and a ruthless hand to get the deadness out. Finally cleared my first thought was, now it can get the sun, which was what it needed to flourish.

Sometimes our lives are like that.  Winter comes around in our souls on occasion. A coldness and feeling of barrenness. We may not feel the warmth of the sun in our hearts. In the life of a Christian, we may retreat and seclude ourselves. The things that nurture our relationship with God may slip away - prayer, reading the Bible, fellowshipping with others. Dead leaves begin to pile up. Without the sun shining deep into the heart it is easy for branches that once flourished to wither and die. There we sit, in the dark and the cold and feel life seeping out of us. Those dead leaves may entwine and multiply. When seeds of bitterness, jealousy, anger, envy, offense and other negative thoughts we battle are allowed to grow in the dark of winter, they multiply and threaten to block the new life that comes in the spring seasons.

This is the week following Easter, so the tomb is fresh in our minds.  A damp, dark place. A place of sorrow and pain.   But a place our Savior moved through. For our sins, those dead leaves that threaten to choke us out, He gave His life on the cross. The story does not end in death, but in life. Resurrected life that affects us and changes us today.

Romans 8:11 - 12 "and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

Sometimes we just have to stop and clear the dead leaves out...ruthlessly. While working on my plant, a thorn hit my finger, ouch... sometimes clearing out hurts. But then using cautious care, I untangled the vines of dead leaves and freed the branches, tossing the dead ones and supporting the ones with life in them. God is the master gardener of our hearts. He is able to clear the debris, to toss the branches that are dead weight and nurture the living ones. Once our hearts are cleared out by God, He brings life - newness, vitality and renewed joy. That same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus to life, lives in the heart of every Christian. That bring abundant life!

If you find that spring is not springing up in your heart - seek God, ask Him to remove the deadness, to spring clean your life and shine through you with His newness of life. Let the light in and let Him shine in and through you!