WITHERED

Have you ever bought flowers for someone (or yourself?? So sad...) You know how the flowers comes with that packet of stuff that you are supposed to put in the water after you find a vase to put them in. So then, why do you put the stuff from the packet into the water?? Well, we have figured out that when we pick flowers we are actually killing them and the stuff in the packet that goes in water is like flower life support. The only problem is that their condition is terminal; when we cut the flowers from their roots we are killing them. It is kind of weird that people seem to enjoy flowers so much that they would kill them. In short, the upside is that flowers bring a little beauty into the house; the downside is that you have to ultimately kill the flowers. Every flower that is cut from its root will eventually wither and die - even with the flower food.

At the Hectic pace that life moves today it is easy to find ourselves feeling a little disconnected or maybe cut off. We often times will neglect the importance of being connected altogether. It's easy to become so busy with the business of life that we cease to really live; we don't notice that we have been living disconnected lives. By the time we realize it we have neglected our soul for so long that we have done some serious damage; our soul is withered - like a flower cut from its roots.

Have you ever looked into the face of someone who has withered on the inside. You can see a loss of hope, and purpose, you can sense neglect, and lack of direction. Without connection to a source of strength we also will wither and die, maybe not physically but our soul will certainly shrivel to nothing.

What do we do? Jesus put it this way, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers..." Jesus gives life to our soul. Jesus at the center of who we are gives a whole new level of meaning and purpose to everything we do. We no longer work and live for ourselves, but for something - someone - greater than we are, and somehow that gives us a new level of meaning - gives life to our soul. It would be like that flower growing an entirely new root system. It gives new life. We go from withered, shriveled, and empty, to healed, healthy, and whole.

The wholeness we feel that comes with success lasts only as long as the success lasts - it is temporary - like the food you give a flower after it has been cut. As the flower food does not bring life or wholeness to the flower so success or anything else does not bring true wholeness to us. This is true for anything we use to help us feel healed, healthy or whole. Jesus came that we could have life and have it to the full.

So the next time you buy flowers at the store or just put some freshly cut flowers from the yard in a vase, ask yourself how you may have cut yourself from the true source, and perhaps how you have tried to use a temporary source to help you feel alive...

Just a meandering thought...