Psalm 119:36-37 (NIV)
Years ago I helped my father-in-law plant acres and acres of watermelons. Five seeds to a hill . . . hill after hill after hill.
My back was sore from bending and my hands had blisters from hoeing but before I knew it, tiny plants were shooting up in the mounds of warm soil. Each stem was dark green and healthy and I envisioned watermelons by the thousands, ready to be picked and eaten!
As we looked over the fields, my father-in-law made an odd request: “Now that we have our plants growing in each mound, you need to go to each hill and thin it down to just two plants. Leave the two strongest healthy plants and pull up the other ones.” I was dumbfounded! Pull up all but two of the healthy plants?
That request made no sense to me. After all, I reasoned, the more plants you have, the more watermelons you will harvest. I just couldn’t do it. I decided on my own to pull up only one plant from each hill. I was working long and hard when I looked up and saw my father-in-law watching me with a “she needs a lesson on watermelons” smile on his face.
As we looked over the fields, my father-in-law made an odd request: “Now that we have our plants growing in each mound, you need to go to each hill and thin it down to just two plants. Leave the two strongest healthy plants and pull up the other ones.” I was dumbfounded! Pull up all but two of the healthy plants?
That request made no sense to me. After all, I reasoned, the more plants you have, the more watermelons you will harvest. I just couldn’t do it. I decided on my own to pull up only one plant from each hill. I was working long and hard when I looked up and saw my father-in-law watching me with a “she needs a lesson on watermelons” smile on his face.
“Child,” he said, “there is a good reason to pull up all but two plants. If you leave all the plants in the watermelon hill, they will crowd each other out. You will have several vines but none will be strong and healthy enough to produce really good watermelons.”
He continued “They will compete for the moisture, for the sunshine. All your work will be in vain.” So, head bowed, I retraced all my steps and followed his directions exactly as he had instructed me.
In life, there are times when we have too many really “good things” rivaling for our attention. Maybe it’s leading music at church AND teaching a Sunday school class AND writing for the church paper AND being the head of several community organizations AND . . . Whew! Do you get the idea?
Now if we were honest, we could easily list all those “worthless things” that Psalm 119 addresses, like spending hours on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, binge watching movies or television, or maybe shopping for a new outfit with several unworn ones in our closets. But what about the “good things” in our lives?
Maybe you are a fortunate woman who has many, many talents to share with those around her. That’s great! But we need to be careful as wives and mothers that we do not spread our energy and ourselves too thin because all those things will compete for our time and we will find that we do not do any of them well.
In addition, those we love – our children and husbands and friends – may suffer from our lack of time and attention to them. We will become pulled in so many directions that we will find ourselves unable to do any one thing well and therefore every area of our lives – every “good thing” – will suffer as a result. Do you just feel your stress level increasing with that statement? Me, too.
Let me just ask you: what is your passion? What do you feel the Lord has planted in your heart? What idea keeps you awake praying in the middle of the night? That is where your focus should be. If you do not feel pulled toward one particular area, go before the Lord and ask Him to show you what He wants you to focus on in your life with your talent
I encourage you to spend less time on “worthless things” but it is also time to say “no” to some good things as you are trust the Lord to show you His best direction for your life. We all need to learn to thin the melons.
Lord, I desire more than anything to be the servant that you want me to be. Show me the good things in my life that I can give up in order to see the better things that you have for me to do for you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
R.A.P. it up . . .
Reflect
Do you find yourself exhausted and drained at the end of the week because of all the activities you have been involved in the past seven days?
How do you respond to your family when your energy level is low because of your involvement in other things?
Apply
List every organization/activity that you are involved in for one month.
Pray about each one and then ask the Lord to show you which one(s) you should cross off the list and which one(s) you should focus on.
Power
Psalm 119:36-37 (NIV) “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Philippians 4:6 (NIV) “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)
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