Ivy

Lately I'm discovering that life is just one continual lesson. Each individual is being taught at their own speed. Different lessons. Different levels of difficulty. Each one exactly what we need at that specific moment. Our Teacher is patient and with us every step of the way. Sometimes He is silent, but He has never left our side. He knows when to step in a help and when to allow us to struggle as we face the problems ourselves. 

Today is a beautiful day in Oregon. The sun is out. It's a crisp 59 degrees. Fall. Oh how I love it! Today is also my first Saturday not working in at least 2 months. I am enjoying all aspects of what today holds. Alas, part of what I get to do today is yard work. The joys of living in a duplex and not an apartment. I have a yard!!!! :) I also have a lot of trees which results in a lot of leaves that need raking. After borrowing a rake from a friend I set out this morning to tackle the yard. I was looking forward to the labor. What I didn't know is that really it was a divine appointment from the Lord. 

I started off by raking all of the leaves in the front and side of the house. I added them to my compost pile. Then I took a look at the side of my house. Ivy. I knew at some point I was going to have to deal with it, but today? Really? Why not! I mean, how much is there really?

So I started the process of pulling it out. Surly it wouldn't be that bad. After two minutes my hands hurt. Where were those silly gloves that I have? The ivy was tearing my hands apart. This is where the lesson started for me. The Holy Spirit started working over time in my mind. Ivy is just like sin in our lives. Sure, it looks enticing and seems like a good idea, but as soon as you start it will spread and cover more area than you anticipated. The roots will go deeper than you want them to. The act of removing it from your life will not be simple. It will hurt. It will wear you out.

I put on the gloves. A tool that I had to make the process less painful. God does the same thing for us. He won't call us to deal with something and leave us unequipped. He provides all that we need. This doesn't mean that the process will be any easier. Some of our sins are so deep within us that we don't even recognize them as sin. We just think they are a part of us, the way we do things on an everyday basis. But as we start viewing things in light of the Word we see the truth: sin is sin no matter what form it takes in our life. 

By no means is dealing with sin a simple fix. Neither is getting rid of ivy. It was killing my back. My arms started to feel like jello. I asked God to give me a knight in shining armor (well, at least someone with more muscle than me)! No one came. This was my battle to go through. He was there with me, but I needed to do some of the work myself. Interestingly enough, as I'm thinking through some of the areas of sin that have recently come to light in my own life, I started to rationalize the reasons for not dealing with the sin. What could possibly be wrong with that? It was then that the cord to my headphones got entangled with the increasingly annoying ivy.

It didn't take me long to get untangled, but the reality of the picture struck me. We try to rationalize keeping sin in our lives, and it starts to take hold of us. If we're not careful, we'll become stuck again. All the hard work we have gone through will be swallowed up by the sin continuing to spread and grow over the area we just cleared. There is no room for leaving sin in our life. Just like the ivy, it has to be destroyed to the depths for it to not come back. Matthew 5:29 ESV says, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." If Jesus takes the sin in our life so seriously, why don't we?

I labored for what felt like hours. Truly, it was 45 min. The point is, that sometimes the process seems as though it is never ending. Don't give up. No matter what, don't give up. Each life is different. Maybe you have a little bit to clean up. Maybe you have a lot. It doesn't matter. You just keep plowing ahead until you are done. 

I filled an entire trash can. No wonder I was so exhausted! I was sweaty, covered in dirt and grime. I dealt with spiders, snags and the strong desire to give up. Yet that was not an option. Just like the lessons God is taking me through at the moment. They aren't easy. They aren't enjoyable. Truthfully, they suck. However, I know that the result is going to be my finding true freedom in Christ. A freedom that no one can take away from me. A freedom to be myself in Christ. So even if the process is hard and not enjoyable, I wouldn't change it for anything. The result will far out weight any hardship along the way. 

Now, it's also important to remember that we can't do it alone. I did get the majority of the ivy. However, part of it is beyond my control. The only way to fully get rid of it is use some ivy killer chemical stuff. So I will be getting that soon. God doesn't call us to do it all by ourselves. There are parts that only He can take care of. That is when we have to let go of the control and turn it over to Him. Allow Him to get down deep the roots we can't get to. To destroy them and bring about the healing that only He can do. I promise it will be worth it.