View from the church parking lot...
Years ago I told God that I would do anything, go anywhere that He wanted in order to serve Him. In retrospect, I think God said, "Oh, really?"
I remember a preacher saying that if you are getting really restless, it is usually a sign that God is getting ready to move you. About a year ago I began to get really restless, and figured that we would probably move somewhere else when my husband retired in about three years. But I have been going back and forth on it, because I like Cody, and love the old house that has sheltered me and my family for over 20 years. It is home. It is safe. It is cozy.
But in my spirit I have been hearing that I need to prepare to move. Not tomorrow, maybe not in the next year or two, but we are going. I have tried to talk myself out of it, I began to resist it. How do you leave roots that are over a quarter of a century deep?
Then I read yesterday, in Ecclesiastes, the following verses:
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which has been planted. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
I looked up the definition of pluck, and the dictionary defines it to 'pull out sharply, to move or pull by force, or with a jerk'. In other words, plucking up don't come easy.
We moved here a quarter of a century ago, we planted a life. There are deep roots on that plant. Pulling up those roots may be exciting, but it will also be painful. The question is, as it always has been, am I willing to obey? Am I willing to embrace what God has in mind for us, or do I want to cling to the past? Thinking of my garden, what I don't pluck up after harvest simply rots...and I don't want that!
So no more dithering...I will embrace what God has for me, and begin to prepare. To that end, I have been cleaning out drawers and getting rid of stuff that I no longer need. I have been painting walls and trying to get my house in order. I don't know when change is coming...but I know that it is coming. Whether is it tomorrow or years down the road, when I know that it is time to 'pluck up that which has been planted', I will set my face toward a new season, and a new planting. And to God be the Glory! DLB
