As you know from Tammy’s post on Tuesday, I returned home on Monday from our 20th Annual Plot, Play, and Pray retreat in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. As always, I am filled up with joy from my time with these wonderful sisters in Christ. They mean more to me than I can say, and they continue to strengthen and inform my faith.
One of the first things I noticed upon my return was that my large patio plant looked very beleaguered. It received water, but it looked very brown and sparse because no one had plucked off the dead blooms, something I do almost every day. I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo of it in that sorry state. But here is a before photo:
On Wednesday morning, with wonderful old Keith Green songs playing on my patio speaker, I sat on the stool and plucked and plucked and plucked off most of the “dead stuff.” And it got me to thinking about how drab I would look if I let the dead stuff—the sins, the old habits, the wrong thoughts—that Christ has freed me from cling to me as I walk through life.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1 (NASB95)
Gathering with other believers, whether at a retreat or at church or anywhere, helps us to get or remain untangled. It helps us renew our minds, to get rid of the “dead stuff” that clings to us.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 (NASB95)
With the transformation that comes with the renewing of my mind, I can cast off the old dead blooms that try to cling to me. Hopefully, after walking with the Lord for the better part of five decades, I don’t have as big a pile of “dead stuff” as my patio plant had.
What steps do you take to remain unentangled?
Many blessings,
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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What a great encouragement! I love your analogy!
Thanks, Betty. Glad you found it encouraging.
Lovely thoughts today, Robin. I often think of the parable of the sower and the ground where the worries and cares of life sprang up to choke the faith out of the seedling.
I’m not much of a gardener, but every time I walk past my front flower bed, I search for weeds and grass poking up where they don’t belong. They are so much easier to remove when they are small. But if we let those worry weeds take root they can grow so large that we become overwhelmed, discouraged, and lose hope that restoration can occur.
I’m a thinker and a dweller and must take deliberate care to weed out the negative thoughts that spring up daily so they don’t steal my joy, energy, and motivation. Worship and willfully focusing on my blessings are some of the weeding tools I use more frequently.
“Worship and willfully focusing on my blessings are some of the weeding tools…” I love that, Karen. Thanks for sharing.
Read the Bible daily, some times more than once. I get so overwhelmed sometimes between my teaching job, raising my daughter, keeping home, paying the bills, working on my blog, etc., that I need to escape into God’s Word. He always calms me down and allows me to get to a place where I can see all my stuff through a proper perspective. God is good!
Escaping into God’s Word is the perfect way to remain unentangled. Hallelujah and Amen!
Thank you for the reminder about retuning all thoughts to our Lord.
Appreciate being pointed back to the origins of peace.
❤️