Dead Things are Heavy

I've never cared much about gardening but for some reason, since we moved into our new home, I've really enjoyed working in the yard. God has been using the plants and weeds to teach me so many things. This weekend as I was looking at one of our rose bushes, I kept thinking about how beautiful it had been a month ago, and I was sadden by how ugly, messy, and unkempt it looked now. I also noticed how many old dead flowers were hanging on it. 

As I looked at all those old fading petals and brown buds, I heard God say, "Dead things are heavy."

I thought about that for a moment and then decided to trim away the old dead stuff.  Some of the buds still had color, so from a distance they were masquerading as healthy roses. Others were brown and dried up but remained attached to the branch. Some of the branches had no buds at all but were laying on the ground because the dead buds around it were too heavy. There had been other plants near the rose bush that had been unable to grow because they were covered by the dead flowers and heavy branches. The dead parts of the rose bush had definitely been weighing it down.

It took a while, but once I had clipped it all away and stood back to look at the bush, I was amazed. It looked vibrant and healthy. I was astonished by how its beauty had returned.

I again heard, "Dead things are heavy." 

God had been speaking to me about the rose bush but at the same time, He had been speaking to me about life in general. Sometimes things need to be trimmed away that are no longer beneficial. That doesn't mean the things we cut away weren't ever beautiful or purposeful. It simply means they are no longer for us.

How often do we walk through life, just carrying a bunch of dead stuff around with us? How often do we endure difficulties but just go on pretending we're unchanged by it? How often are we weighed down by unforgiveness or grudges? Why is it that we often believe letting go of trauma and tragedy would be more painful than carrying it around with us?

Seasons change and different parts of our lives grow and bloom. Then, there are times when some things must come to end. When we do not willingly trim away those things that are no longer a part of God's plans for us, He allows things to happen to have them forcefully removed. That’s never pleasant and we rarely understand it, but as I watched the rose bush spring back to life, it became clear that God knows what He is doing.

The portions of our lives that are no longer living and beneficial, need to be removed. We may protest and try to avoid it, but in order to live the abundant life God desires for us, we need to allow those things to be striped a way so we can be full of life, because the truth is, dead things are heavy, and we weren’t meant to carry them.