Daily Vines

Lord, You are holy.  Simple words that pack a power punch.  Why?  Because God tells us "But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy." I Peter 1:15.

God has been dealing with me lately that I am doing everything I have said I would, but in mediocre fashion due to the fact that I am trying to do too much....again.  Will I ever get this into my thick skull and keep it there?

There are some things I believe God desires of me daily: Spend time alone with Him in prayer and Bible study, exercise and eat healthy to keep my body in the best shape possible in order to do His work, get enough rest and above all - obey His voice.

I love the time I spend alone with Him and have formed a good habit of doing so.  Most of the time I eat as healthy as I know how, though there are times when I splurge, such as birthdays.  I am not as good at this though.  Rest and exercise are the two things for which I must constantly harp at myself.  

Holiness is not something we can muster up or work to attain.  It is a gift given to us at salvation.  The problem that exists is us allowing the daily struggles in life to cover it.  

When I look in my back yard at the jumbled mess of vines and trees, it makes me think about how my life gets tangled up.  The vines grow until they actually cover the trees and smother them to death.  The leaves cannot get the carbon dioxide they need from the air, nor can they receive the sunlight they need for photosynthesis to produce the chlorophyll, so the leaves whither and die and the tree starts drying up from within.  Eventually, unless the vines are cut away from them, the trees will fall.  Whether during a storm or from root rot, they will fall.  We need to chop away the vines, yes, but we need to remove their roots or they will simply grow back. 

It is the same in every day life.  "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful."  Matthew 13:22  We have been given this absolutely gorgeous gift of holiness that gets covered with the cares of life if we are not careful.  We need to become daily gardeners, weeding out the vines and other destructibles.  The only way to do this is to confess them to God and do all He tells us.  If we try to do it on our own, we will fail.  If we try to listen to the world, we will fail.  If we open our hearts to hear God's voice and obey it, we can do no less than succeed.  "I can do everything through Christ, Who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:13

Father, make me a faithful worker in the garden of my heart.