Driving home by back roads yesterday, I noticed a country farmer clearing a neglected field.
Pausing at a stop sign, I watched him maneuver his bulldozer around numerous tree stumps with great skill. The setting sun cast long shadows against each unique stump. Tall, short, jagged. Some beautiful. Some ugly.
Glancing across his work in progress, I thought about the field of our souls. Spiritual expanses littered with countless stumps we maneuver around every day. Each representing something different.
Remnants.
And the clearing God has to do in each field.
Some stumps stand higher than others. Broken off. Craggy with sharp edges. Perhaps they represent pet sins. We want them gone, but won't admit God's bulldozer. They stand as monuments to failed, self-extractions.
Termite infested.
Rotting.
There may be knee-high stumps cut smooth. Those perches God preserves for us to sit on and notice what He cleared. To observe His masterful landscaping. Remind us of His wisdom. Allow time to pause and breathe the fresh air.
Enjoy the sun on our face.
Savor His grace.
Sometimes stumps get yanked out by the roots, leaving gaping holes. Something removed from our lives painfully, even violently. They represent torn relationships or sudden losses. We mourn their absence and don't allow God to heal the wound on the landscape of our heart.
Others fall in the holes and get hurt.
Dangerous emotional traps.
Then there are places where trees once stood. Stumps removed, ground out, and freshly sodded by God. We behold His green shoots of new growth sprouting up. Connecting with each other, they make a soft grass carpet inviting us to spread out blankets.
To rest and refuel.
To be awed by God and His master plan.
As I survey the stumps in my soul, I see a wide variety. Some I like. Some I don't. Fields of past habits or old behaviors I need to release to His bulldozer. Routines or schedules I need to surrender to make room for new growth.
Then I glimpse areas where stumps used to sit. Replaced with grand trees I never imagined. Tall and strong.
Planted with great skill by Him.
For Him.
"Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. ... Remember, you aren't feeding the root; the root is feeding you." Romans 11:16, 18 (MSG)
God's bulldozers make room for orchards that produce fruit long after we're gone. We simply have to trust His bulldozing skills and landscape design.
Let's talk: Can you identify which kinds of stumps you have? If God has done some clearing recently, what was the result?
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