Mow Us and Grow Us

I was listening to a podcast recently.  I don't remember the name of it or even the topic being discussed.  While I was listening, this phrase "Mow & Grow" come into my mind and it has lingered in my thoughts.  I've asked the Lord to guide me in this journey of thoughts and questions around that phrase.  I started writing down my random thoughts and questions.   But are they really random?

For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. ~ Psalm 31:3

So here are some of my thoughts.  In this season, Autumn births the gray, brown and dying.  The trees and plants begin stripping down to the essentials in preparation for the coming winter.  They're shedding the things that are no longer useful or helpful.  However, those leaves, the dried-up flowers and browning grasses, all of them provide protection for the soil.  Even in that state of being they are useful as they feed nutrients back to the fields as they break down.  As the season changes and the days get shorter becoming darker by the day, it feels discouraging and sad.  The colors are beautiful in their own way, and the cool and crisp air can be invigorating, but this season is not my favorite.  I need the sun and all the growing green plants and trees and the bright colored flowers and the garden produce.  I feel myself becoming gray and spent as the plants and flowers fade.  

Has this feeling of gray-ness just become a habit within me?  This happens every year.  Are the trees and plants sad when this season arrives, or do they rejoice in the rest or the challenge this season brings?  It doesn't catch them by surprise--they know the drill.  Why don't we "know the drill"?  Change is inevitable and this life is a journey of learning how to live a life that honors the Lord.

So are these habits hanging on for routine's sake?  Can we change our perspective to be more like the trees and plants of the field?  Can we prune off all those things that are no longer useful or helpful?  And set our perspective to expect the new growth that will come in its season?  And also allow the Lord to use those dying parts to nourish the next season?

What feels weighty and burdensome to you?  Are you in need of prayer support or do you simply need to lay down and abandon some things?  I feel the Lord saying:  "Take what I've taught you in this season and disengage from anything that's holding you in a "stuck" position."

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."  Psalm 136:1

Crisis seems to be all around us nowadays.  It can be so discouraging and seemingly futile to even hope for something good.  I'm reminded that we get to choose our focus.  Do we focus on all the shortcomings, failures, and deficits that we bump up against Every. Single. DAY?  Or do we "see" that deficit and choose to ask the Lord to reveal the "diamond" in it?  How can that adversity work for our good or someone else's good?

There's always a lesson, a treasure, or something of value present in the midst of weakness and brokenness. Maybe this is the place you discover the Lord's very Presence--in the middle of the gray times.  Do you ever stop and ask Him for enlightenment or understanding?   Is He the treasure you are longing for--the knowledge that He is ALWAYS available?  Not as a "once-in-a-while" answer but as an always constant, present, and dependable God who loves us beyond measure.

"...“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." ~ Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord always invites us to approach Him.  Can we get into the habit of inviting Him into our circumstances?  You know He is a good good Father.  He is ready to answer those questions.  Are you listening?  

Lord, thank you so much for the privilege to be able to approach you with our questions.  Thank you for loving us so much that you stand ready all the time.  Help me remember to invite You in, to allow You the opportunity to answer my questions and to finetune my focus on those things You have reserved for me. Help me to lay down all the things that are weighty and "none of my business".  Lord, I want to honor you with my life.  Remind me I don't have to figure it all out and that You see from the beginning to the end.  You are the Source--the Answer to all of our questions.  I love You Lord and Praise You!  In Jesus' precious Name! Amen!