It’s been a long goodbye this week. I’ve had to say goodbye to loved ones traveling cross-country to start a new chapter of life in a new place. It’s been a bittersweet separation these past few days.
My emotions range from being hopeful, happy, excited and then sad and lonely all at once. Then there’s worry and anxiety close by to turn my world upside down.
Letting go. It’s hard.
I spent the last few months in my garden. Weeding, working the soil, planting. It’s therapy. And the therapy became a blessing as I have anticipated this week for some time now.
I worked the soil, in a large planter on my deck, trying to release a stump leftover from a shrub that once grew in the pot.
I dug, pulled, chopped, yanked. Little by little the deeply embedded roots gave way to my prodding and poking. Bit by bit I tossed the entangled roots until I got to the stump. I dug a little more and released its grip. It was finally gone for good.
Adding more potting soil, it was ready to receive fresh new plants.
My heart can feel that way sometimes–choked and clogged by a number of embedded emotions that need uprooting so that new growth can sprout.
It may seem easier to let them fester, ignore them or even wallow in them but if I want to flourish, both emotionally and spiritually they need releasing.
It’s funny how God can speak to me in the most unbelievable ways. Yesterday it was through a Persian poet born in 1207.
I opened a magazine and these words popped out at me:
Do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come? Rumi
Ok, God. I hear you.
I wandered through my garden today and noticed the beauty. There are flowers blooming everywhere.
The hard work this past spring produced an over abundance of growth.
I know It’s time to work the unplowed ground in my heart too. I sit quietly, flipping through the pages of His unshakable and reliable word.
Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts… Jeremiah 4: 3-4a
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
I’m doing the hard work of pulling out some of those deeply rooted roots and weeds in my heart, because I know that to see new growth and flourish I must first dig out the worry and anxiety. I have to uproot the wanting to hold on tightly when it’s time to let go.
And you know what? The more I work at this uprooting process the more I’m seeing evidence of joy and peace sprout once again.
What do you need to uproot today?
Blessings!
Nancy ©pensandjournals.com
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