Extirpate

Extirpate:

1. To pull up completely by the roots.


Life is like a garden.

Your life carries along. There are beautiful flowers in your garden. Trees that produce fruit. Birds sing in the branches. Bees flit from plant to plant.

But there are also weeds. Poisonous plants. Parasites. Pests. Things that can come in and take over the garden.

A garden needs to be cared for. Plants need to be pruned back. Watered. Harvested.

Weeds need to be removed. Pests and parasites chased away.

Problem is, a garden can't do that by itself.

Sure, a garden can grow in the midst of thorns...but those thorns and weeds will eventually choke out the plants that need care.

A garden by definition is a place that is cultivated and cared for. Set apart.

A garden needs a gardener.

Cutting weeds does nothing, for they will only grow back. Instead, you have to uproot them. Problem is, sometimes, the roots go deep.

Really deep.

When that happens, you have to dig, and dig, and dig. The gardener has to burrow into the soil until they find the last tiny fragment of that root and rip it out.

Remember, this garden is your life.

Uprooting hurts.

When you recognize a deep seated issue, a weed, or a lie, or a hurt, that has taken root in your life, it must be removed. Otherwise it will take over. It will mar your garden.

Let the Gardener do His work.

Yes it will hurt, yes it will by messy, yes it will cut deep.

But when it is gone, when that root has been extirpated...

You will be free.

Out of the Ashes

Letting go.

Hopes. Dreams. Desires.

Letting go.

Releasing tight grip on the things that you want, things you think you want, and things you want but don't even have.

Letting go.

Unclenching your fists and opening your hands. Offering what is there and saying, "I surrender."

Letting go.

Is pain. Is suffering. Is difficult.

Is worth it.

Letting go.

Placing these things on the altar. Lighting them ablaze. Letting His fire consume them.

Reduced to ashes.

Letting go seems final...

And yet...

...Fire refines...


"Out of these ashes...beauty will rise
and we will dance among the ruins
We will see Him with our own eyes
Out of these ashes...beauty will rise
For we know, joy is coming in the morning...
in the morning, beauty will rise"

Letting go allows the chaff and dross to be burned away.

Hopes. Dreams. Desires. They can be reborn. Remade. Recreated.

They may perish. But if they burned to ash, then were they worth it anyway?

But if instead they persist...

...Perhaps they turn to gold. Perhaps they reveal the shine of ruby. Emerald. Diamond...

If they are then cut, pounded, and worked...

...shaped into a crown that can be laid before His feet...

...forged into a useful and beautiful object...

...well, then...

Letting go was worth it.

Out of the ashes.

Overdue

Have you ever had the feeling that you are missing something? You know, that nagging sensation that tickles the back of your ears. You try to ignore it, but it keeps coming back. It gets better for a time, then gets worse. It seemingly disappears and then reappears with a vengeance. Eventually, you manage to push it aside...only to accept later just what it was you were missing...

I have been missing something.

Hence this post.

It has been nearly two months.

High time for reflection.

Overdue.