I love how gentle the Lord is with us. Sure, sometimes I need a smack on the head to make me realize I am not on a good path, but other times, all I need is His gentle whisper into my heart. Last week, that is what I received. Today, I want to tell you about it as we continue our everyday jesus: seeing him in the daily-ness of life series. #everydayjesus.
I have begun something new in my daily prayer time; something that reminds me and helps me to praise my God. I feel like intentional praise is something that gets the short end of the stick in my prayer life. It is easy to rush into asking and confessing, but I find praise to be something I do not give nearly enough time. So, I determined that I would pick a different Psalm each morning, read it, and in it, find something that I could turn into a prayer of praise to my Jesus. So far, it is an wonderful addition to my prayer time!
On the first day I entered into this new practice, I was also a bit down about the lack of focus, clarity, intentionality, as well as productivity in my writing over the past 6 months or so. It has been ten months since HeBrews: A Better Blend launched, and almost two years since I wrote anything substantial, like a Bible study. I’ve been feeling the itch to write, and am beginning down that path, but was just a bit melancholy over the lack of anything of substance emerging from my keyboard recently.
I opened my Bible to Psalm 1 (ESV), which is a Psalm I fell in love with many years ago. It is a lovely reminder of what the sold out heart of a Christ-follower should look like. On that day, Jesus showed up in one particular phrase, and ministered deeply to my heart. Here is the entire Psalm, with that one phrase highlighted:
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
The blessed man (and woman) is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season.
Seems pretty innocuous, right? Well, hang tight, because what the Lord whispered into my heart was HUGE.
He highlighted the yields fruit in season part of the verse. Then he asked me a question,
“Leah, does a fruit tree bear fruit year-round?”
Obviously, even to a dim bulb like myself, the answer is ‘no’. A fruit tree only bears visible fruit in a specific season. The rest of the year is full of times of preparation, renewal, and growth, but no fruit on which to feast.
Have you figured out where the Lord was taking me?
He reminded me that, just like a healthy fruit tree, there will be seasons of quiet preparation, renewal and growth in my writing and speaking life. Those are seasons to be embraced, not despised or rushed away. They are seasons where the Lord teaches and corrects; seasons of pruning and fertilizing what is already there.
Talk about a paradigm shift for me. No season lasts forever. There will be another fruitful writing season…speaking season…mentoring season……____________________ season. You fill in your own blank.
How does that speak to you, friend? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
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Linking on Friday with Grace & Truth
Linking up on Tuesday with Kelly at #RaRaLinkup!
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