Honor or Wither

     If you read these devotions back in November, you know that my mother cleaned out some of my old flower beds for my birthday. This gift was very costly to me: I helped her clean out the beds and had an allergic reaction to some dead, hidden Virginia Creeper. I was miserable for six weeks. Then, I had six weeks of getting over the drugs I had to take for the reaction. I am finally totally recovered and feeling good. Since I sacrificed a lot for these flowers, I have eagerly waited for the fruition of the flower garden. I wanted it to flourish and be breathtaking! My mother had planted all of my favorite flowers in this garden. I have three hydrangea bushes, a snow ball bush, my family Irish’s, poppies, and ninety tulips. After a long, hard winter we evaluated the plants and we were very happy to declare that each was alive and growing. The tulips came up slowly, and the bulbs stayed tightly closed, then finally, Monday afternoon the bulbs started to open up. I couldn’t wait to see all of my tulips blooming! When I left for work on Tuesday, it looked as if I would have fully bloomed tulips waiting for me when I returned from work. When I got home that evening, I looked to see my flowers. The flowers I had so anticipated seeing in full bloom were all lying on the ground. I was in shock! What happened to my tulips!
     Yesterday was the unannounced day the yard care men came to spray the yard. They did not spray the flower beds directly. However, it was one of our normal Oklahoma Spring days with winds that could blow you over. In retrospect, nobody should be spraying yards in these kinds of winds unless they were willing for that wind to carry their poisons and attack whatever life may end up in its path! After hoping that a good day of sunshine would rejuvenate my tulips, I now have a pitcher full of beautiful yellow tulips; still not in full bloom though. Hopefully, they will still bloom out! I will enjoy them one way or another. I quess I will have to practice endurance as I wait another year to see my new tulips. lol
     Have you had times in your spiritual walk that you worked hard removing the weeds in your life and you cultivated the soil of your heart with God’s grace and love? Have you planted God’s word in your life, and followed His leading? Have you then anticipated seeing the results start to bloom as you live out your Christian journey? Have you had the winds of this world blow its poisons on you and have your spirit wither just like my tulips? Right when things start to look like a beautiful garden, Satan attacks and does His best to have you wither away! We must stand strong against the winds. We must do whatever we can to keep the world's poison from getting close to us. If our goal is to bring honor to God, then we need to protect our self from the things that do not bring honor to Him. Do we participate in things that dishonor God? Are we spending too much time with people who do not honor God? Are we going places that do not honor God; places where sin and evil prevail? Do we listen to conversations that do not honor God and could cause hurt and damage? Do we entertain our self by watching things that do not honor God and honors sin! When we become lax with our presence, we endure the poisonous winds of this world. Those poisons can make the heart that is dedicated to honoring God start to wither.
     Do you want to honor God? Have you cultivated your spiritual garden? Are you ready to see God’s plantings start to bloom in your life? What poisonous winds are you allowing to blow on your heart? You will never be able to stop the poisonous winds but you don’t have to take your heart into the midst of them. Protect your heart! Honor God!

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart (solely, reverently) to fear and honor Your name.

Psalm 86:11