I feel like my sunflowers, hollyhocks and cannes lilies. The rain and minimal sun has given birth to a splendor of color. Orange-tipped golden cannes lilies stand 7-feet high. Brilliant yellow sunflowers top-out at 6 feet. Hollyhocks surpass the 6-foot fence by 10 or 12 inches to show off their burgandy, pink, and salmon beauty to the neighbors next door.
That's me. Many times. I feel so full of God's joy and love that I could climb mountains and wave banners of His goodness and provision. In these times, all that I am is Jesus inside of me glorifying Himself; for nothing--I am or do--is of me~~apart from Him.
Then, there are the other times.
The repeated storms, the drenching rains, the straight-line winds, the absence of sunlight. I get weary. I look and feel like my drowned petunias--wilted, soil-coated and limp. My energy is spent from the downpour of circumstances--my precious sick husband who isn't bouncing back from open-heart surgery because of additional complications. My brain is depleted from lack of sleep. My body is weakened from a physical condition which shows no signs of getting better and thus saturates the foundation of my overall health.
My spirit hungers and thirsts after my Lord's all-sufficient grace and sustaining warmth. I bask in the sunshine of His eternal Flame and Light of hope amid the storms of life.
Yesterday, between storms, I pondered the fallen soldiers of cannes lilies, wind-beaten sunflowers and hollyhocks. Their beauty was still there. Beaten but not destroyed. Battered but not uprooted.
I took sticks and limbs and stuck them in the watersoaked ground at the base of the giant plants. I pulled them erect and placed more limbs with forked branches to bear the weight of their heavy, drooping heads. In shouldering their burdens, they weathered another storm today.
Six inches of downpour in 15 minutes. Tons of water poured off my rooftop onto my eroded front yard. But this time, the storm did less damage. The bit of support I gave my mature plants served them well. They did not fall over again. They had a shoulder to lean on.
"Cast your burden on the Lord, for He careth for you." And oh, how he loves to hear our dependent heart's cry.
"Pray for one another." What a privilege to support one another!
"Bear each other's burdens." What a blessing to undergird a brother, to lay down one's life is need be.
Should we use a brother's weakness, flaw or immaturity to beat them down further? Should we point out their mistakes, their sins, and spread their laundry on the public square? Should we breathe out threatenings or could we not post verses of scripture to encourage, comfort and edify?
Could we not find supports and place them at the roots of their feet? Could we not brace their weakened state with prayers of intercession? Could we but bind their wounds and leave them at the inn with provision to meet their needs? Could we do all we can to heal and mend, rather than destroy? Could we judge not, condemn not, criticize not? Could we but find the good and dwell upon it, then leave any justice to the Just Jehovah? I think we could. I really do. selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]
