Grace Notes // Hope and a Future Week 2
From Breakdown to Breakthrough
Written by Keli Miller
About a year ago I became a plant mom, to a beautiful 5 foot, full-figured, Fiddle Fig. It was the hipster millennial dream. I had never had any plant before, but how hard could it be? Turns out it’s very hard. Raising a Fiddle Fig is no joke, they are notoriously finicky and temperamental. Leaves started falling off almost instantly. No matter how often I watered it, it looked dry and dead. As any good mother would, I took my questions to Google and from there closely inspected my plant. Turns out all of the problems were coming from my plant’s roots. Over time the root ball had become so tightly wound that no water could permeate it. The cure? A good shaking of the roots. I had to uproot it and deconstruct the plant’s root system, in order for water to be able to flow through it. Soon after I did this more leaves fell. It seemed as though death was at the door of my precious Fiddle Fig. And then one day I started seeing a few sprouts, and then more and more leaves begin to appear. New life was happening right before my eyes.
“Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.” -Jeremiah 4:3
If I hadn’t uprooted my plant, water would have never been able to flow where it needed to. The same thing happens to our hearts. Our hearts become hard and calloused, closed off to the very thing that will bring us life and renewal. And even here, when our hearts are hardened and impenetrable God calls to us.
“Return to me, Israel. Return to me...” (Jeremiah 4:1)
This is the message that is written time and time again throughout all of scripture. That what God desires more than anything is for us to bring all of ourselves to him. His message has never changed. There is something about seasons of breaking that allows his message to come through clearer. I don’t ever choose breaking, but inevitably breaking finds me. God calls to us here and uses these seasons of breaking to make room for new life. That’s what I love about God, there is purpose in everything.
God is always drawing us nearer to him. He created us uniquely and in his very image. Our very beings are rooted in who He is. His one request? That we would bring our truest selves to him. That we wouldn’t just provide lip service or good deeds, but truly be men and women after his heart, because He is after ours.
In The Word
Jeremiah 4:1-4
Deuteronomy 30:1-6
Isaiah 30:15-18
Processing Questions:
What does this reading tell us about God’s heart?
Here are 5 versions of ourselves that tend to rob us of God’s best. Which version of yourself do you fall into the most? How is this different from your truest self?
The expectations of others- the Me others want me to be
The imitation of success- the Me I think I want to be
The infatuations of money- the Me they pay me to be
The preoccupation of Life- the Me time makes of me
The projection of self- the Me I want to be
God is calling the Israelites to an uprooting and returning of their hearts. This current cultural moment in some ways has required a lot up uprooting. Where do you feel like you have/had grown callous or hard-hearted? Are there any areas that feel currently uprooted?