Lady AEA

I get it.  I finally get it.  I have a co-worker who helped nurse a dying plant back to semi-life.  When she rescued the plant, it was down right pitiful.  I mean she really could have thrown it in the trash, it was that bad.  But she took care of it, watered it, sat it in the sunlight and even named it…Chance, like a second chance at life.  It was so cute.

I will be honest and admit the plant has had a nice turnaround.  It has new, small signs of life and a few new leaves.  But some of the new leaves are being eaten by some insect and have small holes in them.  It’s a somewhat self-defeating growth.  New sprouts of life in the midst of what was once a dying plant.  Who wouldn’t celebrate that?

But the awesome gardener who gave the plant when it was full and healthy, before someone almost killed it, offered her an incredible offer today.  He saw how much she had taken care of the other and wanted to reward her with much more.  He told her it would take 30 years for that plant to fully recover and be healthy again.  He offered her a brand new, four tiered English ivy topiary…valued at hundreds of dollars.  He offered her that to now take the place of something that will no longer grow healthily.  Something that served it’s purpose, something that it was time to let go of.  The co-worker surprisingly said no.  She held onto this piece of a plant, rather than embracing the new and better that had been offered to her.

I couldn’t understand why I was so disappointed, borderline upset with her today about this.  But I get it.  This whole plant ordeal was just a plant picture of everyday life.

How often do we hold on to the dying, old, non-producing things in our lives when God wants to bless us with so much more.  We hold onto dead relationships.  Friendships that mean us no good.  Pieces of a broken dream.  To afraid to let go of what we worked so hard on and that we see, for what is to come, which in actuality is so much better.  We waste valuable years and time and breath pouring our all into something that will never be able to fully produce because it’s season in our life is over.

I know God used this to show me myself and Him.  I was still holding on to some things that I had poured so much time and effort into.  So many tears and sweat into and all the while it wasn’t doing anything for me.  All my attention was focused on what was and what I could make it be, when God has something so much better, fuller, richer, blooming and fruitful to give to me.  But how can I grasp the new, if I am too stubborn and stuck in the old.  I know why it frustrated me so.  It was a reflection of me.  I wondered how many days I had disappointed God when He had the new and great available to me, but I couldn’t see it or accept it, because I was still hopeful of what could be of a dying or not thriving situation.

My co-worker can choose to hold on to the old, but I thank God for the revelation, so I can accept the new in my life.  I want what God has for me way more than what I thought I could nurture and create in a decaying situation.

Isaiah 43: 18-19 in the Message Bible says, “Forget about what’s happened; 
 don’t keep going over old history. 
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. 
   It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? 
There it is!

God wants to do new things in our lives.  He wants to free us from the pain, disappointment, unfruitfulness and low expectations of our past.  He wants to show you what lies on the other side of letting go.  He wants you to be free of the less than so He can bless you with the more than He has prepared for you.

I get it, I finally get it…it took me all day, but I thank God for the lesson via plants.  If God can speak through a donkey, I know He was sho-nuff speaking to me through this plant.  I can’t decide for anyone else.  I can’t make my co-worker accept her blessing and I can’t make you let go of what is holding you back.  I can only share with you what has been shared with me.  And rest assured dearly beloved, I have let it go.  I willingly give up my will for God’s will for me.

I have let it go…