It's strange sometimes....the things that God will use to break through our darkness. And recently, I have been no stranger to darkness....various changes in my life have left me feeling depleted, while various relationship disappointments have left me feeling discouraged....so much so, that I have been very content to just withdraw....strike out on my own and determine that some things are just not worth the effort. Worst of all though, I lost sight of my roots....not my Christian faith, but the stock from whence I came....you know, my hereditary legacy.....I forgot in all of this mess that I have the blood of some pretty extraordinary women flowing through my veins.....and just like lightning, when it strikes with so much brightness and power; God reminded me today that I need to get back to my roots.....
In doing so, He had me to stumble across a devotional on Pinterest.....titled, "5 Attitudes Of The Well-Watered Woman" while reading this devotional, God brought the faces and characterisitcs of 3 of the most influential women from my life into clear focus, reminded me how much I still adore and admire them.....These women were my Mother, Her mother, and my Dad's mother......
He reminded me that it was not by accident that I got to observe these women's lives from the inside-out....and suddenly, I started ticking off their characterisitics and with each one my strength returned...like it was coming from an ancestral well-spring that was overflowing in my soul!
These were women who primarily kept to themselves....yes, they knew how to maintian friendships, and had at least one or two good friends, interacted with others at church as well as within the community, but they were women who stayed close to home, worked industriously at home (and at her job, in my mom's case), but they seemed to derive their greatest joy from their familial relationships with their husbands, children and siblings.
They didn't spend much time on the phone, didn't run all over the neighborhood; from house to house carrying gossip, were dignified, gracious, loving, warm, hospitable, strong, self-controlled, loved and were committed to one man for all or most of their lives, raised their children as best they knew how & used their God-given influence to mold & shape the lives of those around them in ways that were meant to make them stronger & not destroy them!
No, these women weren't perfect by any means. They made mistakes, had sorrows, blew it, made bad decisions at times & lost their tempers to boot, but in it all, they never appeared to lose their way.....they knew who they were and Whose they were. They knew where they had come from and never appeared to fret about where they were going. They had a peace that was soul-deep and nothing they faced in this life moved or obstructed that.....I watched each of them face death and even death didn't up-end them.....they knew their lives were firmly sealed in God's hands and that was enough for them....the rest, was His alone to determine! They lived at a comfort level in their own skin that few women in the world today seem to be able to match.....and I thank God, that after I looked at these women afresh again today, He showed me how much like them I am in some very important ways and also, how much I still need to grow in some areas to become as much like them as I desire.
But mostly, I am grateful that He reminded me that a tree's growth is not affected by it's external circumstances as much as it is is governed by it's root system....the winds may rage and blow around that tree, but strong roots prevent it from dying or being broken beyond repair....I am that tree and my roots were well-watered, nurtured, and established. God used my precious memories of these 3 special women to get me back to "me" today because I have been acting more like you'd expect someone without the benefit of having such roots to behave (and yes, I do know that even those without the benefit of such blessing DO NOT all act as badly as I have been).....so, if for no other cause than to honor them, this "tree" intends to finish her race well.
