Good Monday morning S.I.S.!
It was so good to see so many sisters yesterday in worship. It was even better to be in the presence of the Lord and to witness yet again, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit over the church. Lives are being forever changed as we grow closer in our relationship with the Lord and one another. Continue to be INTENTIONAL about praying for one another and truly asking “how are you doing?” and then waiting for a response. Don’t just smile and walk away thinking you’ve done your Christian duty! Wait for the Holy Spirit to confirm whether your conversation is an invitation for the Lord to use you to minister to another sister or brother. We are one in the Spirit.
I received this devotional today from Alicia Britt Chole, author of the phenomenal book “Anonymous – Jesus’ hidden years – and Yours”. Just wanted to share as she addresses something that we deal with on a daily basis in our everyday lives – the choice to do nothing or do something. Read and let me know your thoughts.
Loving you to LIFE and praying your day is fruitful in every way possible.
Nikki J.
Devotional
from Alicia Britt Chole’s Intimate “Conversations”
We babied them. Prayed for them. Nurtured and protected them. And after three years our strawberry plants had produced TWELVE strawberries.
But over in the corner of the garden….there was this weed.
We did not baby it. We never prayed for it. We neither nurtured nor protected it. And overnight the thing was 3 feet tall!
Hardly fair.
But the sad truth is that the weed had an unfair advantage: weed seeds are indigenous to the soil. Our strawberry plants were the foreigners, grafted in, purposefully planted, struggling to survive in a non-native environment.
We sense the same discrepancy in our lives.
Why is it that we can baby, pray for, nurture, and protect “seeds” like patience, grace, humility, giving, and forgiving and after 12 years of labor these spoiled seeds seem to only produce twelve strawberries?
But over in the corner…there are these weeds called “a critical spirit,” “bitterness,” “pride,” “jealousy,” “impurity,” “rage.” We do not baby them. We certainly never pray for them. We neither nurture nor protect them. Yet, overnight the things are 3 feet tall!
Hardly fair.
The sad truth is that the weeds in our lives also have an unfair advantage: sin seeds are indigenous to our soil, to our humanity. The fruit of the Spirit is the foreigner, grafted in, purposefully planted, struggling to survive in a rocky, broken land.
As I said, hardly fair. The fruit requires so much effort and labor. But the weeds only ask for one thing.
The only thing we have to do to let weed seeds entirely flourish in our lives is NOTHING. Simply nothing.
And doing nothing is a choice.
For Discussion & Reflective Journaling
- What weeds are currently frustrating you? Impatience? Worry? Fear? Take a few moments to survey your garden and identify weeds that are consuming your resources in this season of life.
- Take this evaluation one step further. Ask yourself if there are choices you are making that give these weeds permission to flourish. For example, perhaps someone is wrestling with bitterness. They want it out of their garden but at least once a day they permit themselves to relive that old wound. Each time we replay old hurts and offenses, we feed weeds in our hearts. Perhaps with a journal in hand, prayerfully ask Jesus to reveal choices you are making that enable weeds to remain strong in your life.
- Ask Jesus to forgive you for using your finite resources to nourish weeds in your life. Invite Him to uproot those weeds and in their place plant the fruit of the Spirit. Consider the following passage from Galatians 5.19-24 as you take your discoveries to the cross:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
Sisters In Spirit 
