Several years ago we had two Crape Myrtle trees in our front yard. I loved the trees, but they attracted Japanese Beetles very badly, which in turn ravaged them and our other trees. My husband cut the Crape Myrtles back to the ground. Quite a pruning job! But the next spring - there they were again! And again came the beetles. So my husband "pruned" them to the ground again.
As you could guess, again they came back. So finally, he dug them up, and put them through the chipper, which sprayed their sawdust into the woods behind our house. Yesterday while out in the yard look what I found.
Can you believe it? A Crape Myrtle growing. Out of that "dust" came a real live tree.
This reminds me of resurrection. First Jesus'. He died on the cross for us. But on the 3rd day he rose again, paying the price for our sins. And now we too will be resurrected that we may spend eternity with our Lord and Savior. All we have to do is believe.
Even though we experience lots of earthly pruning, and often feel like we are "cut off at the knees" we can keep growing in Christ. And on the last day, like that Crape Myrtle, we'll bloom again, for Jesus.
John 15:1, 2 -- I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 11:25 -- Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
Romans 10:9,10 -- That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
The winner of the Blog Day contest is Patterson 5. I put all the names in a bowl, prayed over it, and that is who I drew. Congratulations Mrs. P.
7 comments:
You cannot thwart the plans of God--not even by chipper!
I love that you chose to use 'dust.' It's what we are made of, too. And what God desires to grow, He will make grow, through whatever means He wishes (i.e., space capsules being hurled towards the earth's atmosphere).
Praise God that He has no intentions of cutting us off once we have been grafted into the vine!
(And, those yellow traps, though ugly, do actually work. That's an outdoor decoration project for somebody to work on. If we can disguise cell phone towers to look like trees, certainly someone could design Japanese beetle traps to look like crepe myrtle flowers or something.....probably something yellow....)
Your post definately speaks to me today. As Christians we strive to walk with Christ and the world does cut us down to our knees (to our knees-in prayer) and He carries us through those hard times. Our endurance and strength can be seen by nonbelievers or those whose faith is still growing and we can give testimony that our strength and endurance could only be from God. Today my heart aches for a friend who has been cut down to her knees I have been praying for her for a long time and now know of her trial. Only through God could she have endured thus far, yet she still has a long journey ahead of her and I will continue to pray. We joked our pants will all have holes in the knees b/c we've been praying so!
Her faith and trust in God encourages me. And when it's her time to be the blooming crepe myrtle she will shine brilliantly!
I blogged on your blog! Heavy heart...lots of words.
I can not believe I won! I never win anything! Wow!
I love this! I am doing a conference in November and this illustration would fit perfectly. Can I use it?
Thanks for all the prayers and support lately. Your friendship means a lot to me.
God is working and I am getting better slowly...sometimes too slowly...But then I remind myself He knows what to do, after all He made me to start with!
Love a girlfriend,
Pamela
Congrats to Mrs. P for being the winner!
Kelly, I love reading your analogies. It reminds me of the scripture that says, "The pure in heart will see God." To me that means that we won't just see him in heaven, but we'll see the evidence of Him all around us. That is exactly what you're doing.
Very insightful!
I just love the way your analogies bring the Lords word into focus for me. I'm the sort of person who needs to be able to visualise things and you do this for me perfectly!
I've always been amazed at how small plants grow back when you cut them completely back but I never would have expected a tree to grow back from the dust of the chipper.
Congrats to Mrs P!
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