John 15:4-8
Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
My husband planted beautiful pink “knock-out” roses in our front yard. While my grandmother was in the hospital, we clipped several blooms and shared them with her. She loved how they made her room a little more cheerful and fragranced the room. But after a couple of days, they began to wither and fade – even standing in a container of water. Apart from the bush where they grew, they could not sustain life and vitality.
We are like this in our walk with God. We may look and smell pretty good for a day or two, but we can’t last very long on our own. We lack the sustenance that fed us and gave us strength, courage, wisdom, and grace. And sooner or later, we will fall flat on our faces.
If you pull up a rose bush filled with blooms, it might continue to look pretty good for a day or two. But eventually, it would wither and die. The bush would still be a rose bush… but its former luster and purpose would be gone. The same can be said for our Christian faith walk. Separated from God, we are still Christians… but we lose our mission and purpose. We become lethargic and ineffective… and often we make costly mistakes.
Don’t let this be said of you. Stay connected to God. Communicate with Him… study His word… listen for His voice. Fellowship with others who are connected to God, and let Him speak to you through their friendship and counsel.
When it comes to the life of a Christian, independence is highly over-rated! Let God feed you and nurture you… and enable you to produce good fruit. Bloom for Him like a “knock-out” rose. Bask in His grace and sustenance. Boldly live in the confidence of God’s constant care… and never wither and fade.
©2012 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label independence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label independence. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for November 5, 2010
Jeremiah 10:23
I know, LORD, that we humans are not in control of our own lives.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Today is my Mam-ma Polly’s 98th birthday. She is in excellent health and still lives alone in her own home… with a lot of help and daily assistance - everything from bathing to housekeeping and Meals on Wheels, to phone calls three times a day to remind her to take her medicine, and more. A few years ago, she gave up driving and sold her car. As her “guardian” and one of her caregivers, I have had to be the “bad guy” in recent weeks and tell her she can no longer cook anything on her gas range and oven… and she most definitely cannot make any more peanut brittle! We cleaned out her freezer and removed several “temptations” from her home, like corn syrup and peanuts to make the candy. Several family members and people from her church take her places and check on her regularly.
It’s been a hard adjustment for my grandmother… and I have no doubt that when I am not around, she does many of the things we have asked her not to do any more. In many ways, she is not in control of her life… and as a strong, assertive woman, this has been an especially hard pill for her to swallow. When her 91-year-old friend told her recently that her son would no longer allow her to drive with passengers in the car, my Mam-ma said, “My life is over. I’ll never get to go anywhere now.” This is totally not true, but again, she feels she has lost control over her life. Deep down, she knows that we are doing these things to keep her safe and to allow her to continue living alone in her own home for as long as possible. But it’s still tough.
In the spiritual sense, we are so much like my Mam-ma. We know that God has our back… that His plans are far better than ours, and the things He asks of us are really for our own good as much as they are to bring honor and glory to His name. But when we “think” no one is looking, we are sometimes like Mam-ma Polly. When I asked her to stop making peanut brittle last year, she asked others to buy her the ingredients, and then she got them to help her deliver the candy to friends and family members. She never said a word about peanut brittle to me until almost Christmas, when she handed me a bag to give to my husband. One day as I got out of my car, the delectable smell of cooked sugar wafted through her garage. It smelled like a candy factory! When I asked about it, she tried to ignore me and changed the subject.
And that’s what we do with God. I know it’s foolish… and so do you… but we actually think we can pull one over on our Heavenly Father sometimes! We are not fully in control of our own lives, and we don’t like it one bit! And I have observed enough senior citizens to know that, as we age, we are going to lose more and more “control” of our situation. Whether it’s a physical change, like arthritis or reduced vision and hearing that keep us from doing what we once did without even a thought… or something more profound, like not being able to cook our own meals, drive a car or live alone in our own home… we will face challenges to our own independence.
When it comes to our relationship with God, we never really had “control” in the first place. Oh, sure… we have free will… and you know how well we’ve done with that one! But think about it… God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He knows every minute of your every day – for all of your life and beyond. He is always with us… and if we will let Him, we will discover that He is protecting us, guiding our every step, and keeping us safe and as independent as possible. Actually, the more we let go and let God take care of us, the more in control we will feel!
I have no clue whether my Mam-ma Polly will be with us for a 99th birthday. I feel certain that she will require more and more assistance as the weeks and months go by… and she will no doubt feel even less like she is in control than she does now. But I also know that she relies tremendously on her Heavenly Father to control what she cannot… and to give her a sense of peace and calm in these situations.
Can we say the same? Are we looking toward Heaven for our guidance and our peace? Don’t you think we should be taking a page from this 98-year-old’s book and doing just that?
©2010 Debbie Robus
I know, LORD, that we humans are not in control of our own lives.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Today is my Mam-ma Polly’s 98th birthday. She is in excellent health and still lives alone in her own home… with a lot of help and daily assistance - everything from bathing to housekeeping and Meals on Wheels, to phone calls three times a day to remind her to take her medicine, and more. A few years ago, she gave up driving and sold her car. As her “guardian” and one of her caregivers, I have had to be the “bad guy” in recent weeks and tell her she can no longer cook anything on her gas range and oven… and she most definitely cannot make any more peanut brittle! We cleaned out her freezer and removed several “temptations” from her home, like corn syrup and peanuts to make the candy. Several family members and people from her church take her places and check on her regularly.
It’s been a hard adjustment for my grandmother… and I have no doubt that when I am not around, she does many of the things we have asked her not to do any more. In many ways, she is not in control of her life… and as a strong, assertive woman, this has been an especially hard pill for her to swallow. When her 91-year-old friend told her recently that her son would no longer allow her to drive with passengers in the car, my Mam-ma said, “My life is over. I’ll never get to go anywhere now.” This is totally not true, but again, she feels she has lost control over her life. Deep down, she knows that we are doing these things to keep her safe and to allow her to continue living alone in her own home for as long as possible. But it’s still tough.
In the spiritual sense, we are so much like my Mam-ma. We know that God has our back… that His plans are far better than ours, and the things He asks of us are really for our own good as much as they are to bring honor and glory to His name. But when we “think” no one is looking, we are sometimes like Mam-ma Polly. When I asked her to stop making peanut brittle last year, she asked others to buy her the ingredients, and then she got them to help her deliver the candy to friends and family members. She never said a word about peanut brittle to me until almost Christmas, when she handed me a bag to give to my husband. One day as I got out of my car, the delectable smell of cooked sugar wafted through her garage. It smelled like a candy factory! When I asked about it, she tried to ignore me and changed the subject.
And that’s what we do with God. I know it’s foolish… and so do you… but we actually think we can pull one over on our Heavenly Father sometimes! We are not fully in control of our own lives, and we don’t like it one bit! And I have observed enough senior citizens to know that, as we age, we are going to lose more and more “control” of our situation. Whether it’s a physical change, like arthritis or reduced vision and hearing that keep us from doing what we once did without even a thought… or something more profound, like not being able to cook our own meals, drive a car or live alone in our own home… we will face challenges to our own independence.
When it comes to our relationship with God, we never really had “control” in the first place. Oh, sure… we have free will… and you know how well we’ve done with that one! But think about it… God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He knows every minute of your every day – for all of your life and beyond. He is always with us… and if we will let Him, we will discover that He is protecting us, guiding our every step, and keeping us safe and as independent as possible. Actually, the more we let go and let God take care of us, the more in control we will feel!
I have no clue whether my Mam-ma Polly will be with us for a 99th birthday. I feel certain that she will require more and more assistance as the weeks and months go by… and she will no doubt feel even less like she is in control than she does now. But I also know that she relies tremendously on her Heavenly Father to control what she cannot… and to give her a sense of peace and calm in these situations.
Can we say the same? Are we looking toward Heaven for our guidance and our peace? Don’t you think we should be taking a page from this 98-year-old’s book and doing just that?
©2010 Debbie Robus
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