Hold On

It's crazy windy in Middle Tennessee today!  Fall is trying desperately to make an entrance, but warmer temperatures keep it at bay.  The leaves have changed, but since we haven't had the rain that we need, it seems this year that the colors aren't as vibrant, along with the fact that the trees are letting them go more quickly.  As I was taking my son to school this morning, I noticed a smaller tree that was being whipped by the wind.  If the leaves could talk (which the older I get, I do animate and give things voices :) ) I believe that they would be screaming, "Hold on!  Hold on for dear life!"  At that very moment, God began forming this on my heart.  "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."  (Isaiah 11:1)  As I looked at the leaves being battered by the wind and trying to hold on, I thought of the excruciating "wind" that this life deals us living in this world:  lies, pain, divorce, success at all cost, disease, disappointment, loss, exhaustion, addiction, shame, guilt, and the list could go on an on.  But as long as we hang on to the Branch, we have LIFE.  Leaves apart from the branch wither and die.  Leaves that decide to fly off on their own and ride the wind, never have a source of direction, and they are a slave to the wind.  The Branch (Jesus Christ) is the only source of true life.

Lifeless Limbs

So, I've been staring at this tree with a broken limb for days.  It happens to be in my view as I watch the sun rise.  With all the strong limbs around it, my eyes are continually drawn to the broken limb, the limb that no longer has life in it and just needs to be cut off.

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:2)

The truth that keeps invading my mind is how in our lives we have broken places, even places that are completely severed, and totally lifeless, that need to be "cut off", but we continue to drag them behind us like a lifeless limb.

God promises us that "He has made everything beautiful in its time", (Ecc. 3:11) even that broken limb.  Maybe it needs to be cut off so that it can be made into a fire to warm someone, maybe it can be used to build something, or maybe even chopped up into mulch to nourish the earth.  Whatever the use, that broken limb can be used for good, just as our brokenness can be used to minister to others.

Are you carrying around dead limbs?