TREES AND MEN, VINES AND SIN

In the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to work a little in my yard, to get it ready for spring. I moved some old broken cinder blocks that had once been at the edge of the wood line but were now in the woods because, for the last several years, I haven’t been mowing there and the woods were taking over more of my yard.

I picked up some dead limbs that had fallen off the old oak tree behind the house. I raked some of the leaves out of the yard and threw them in a low spot in the woods which needs to be filled. Maybe they will eventually rot and become dirt.

I finished taking out a stump from a small tree I had cut down a few summers ago. I cleared away some shrubs and brush from a spot at the edge of the woods where I want to plant some wild apricots, and I worked on clearing a spot for a garden. Last week, I dug up a small spot there and planted some potatoes. I’m not much of a gardener but this year I want to plant a few things and maybe get some practice.

I like having a nice, clean, well-kept yard, but I haven’t really been able to work like I need to in order to keep it like I want it. I’ve just been doing the bare minimum for the last few years, so it’s a mess. The bushes around the edge of the yard are out of control. They look terrible and they’re making my yard smaller every year. This week, I thought I would spend a few minutes pruning them. The next thing I knew it had been over an hour and I still wasn’t finished. It will take a while to get everything in good shape just doing a little at a time but maybe I’ll get there eventually.

As I was trimming the bushes, I noticed something interesting. There were vines growing on several of them. I remembered how beautiful they had been the last few summers running all over a cluster of bushes and hanging down. The leaves were a different color and a different size from the bushes and the blooms and full flowers were amazing. It made a beautiful arrangement with all the different colors.

Looking at them this week, though, a memory is all there was. The naked vines covering the naked bushes just looked like a mangled mess. The bushes that were covered with vines looked much different from the ones without them. They just looked sick. They were twisted and bowed over from being pulled and weighed down. The vines have been slowly choking the life out of them. Several of the bigger bushes were already dead.

As I cut the vines off, some of them sprang back up immediately like they were happy to be set free. Some of them took a little longer, while some of the others just stayed down. I guess they were damaged more than the other ones. Maybe they’ll liven up in the spring.

On several occasions in the Bible, you’ll find trees being used to represent humans in parables and prophecy. So often, we can draw parallels from nature that can teach us valuable lessons.

Many times, we are like those small trees and sin is like those vines. It is often beautiful on the outside, especially in the beginning. We don’t realize the negative effect it’s having on us, usually, until it’s too late.

Sin infects our lives and destroys our minds and bodies. It drags us down and holds us there. We become sick and it slowly chokes the life out of us and eventually, it kills us. I’ve seen it many times, especially with substance abuse but any sin is equally as devastating. Even if others around us don’t know what specifically is going on, they can see the effects that sin has on us.

Our only hope is in Jesus (1 Tim. 1:1). He is the only way for us to be set free from the chokehold that sin has on us (John 14:6, John 8:36, Gal. 5:1, Rom. 6:22). 

When he sets us free we’re just like those bushes that were once held down by the vines. The weight of sin is removed and we come alive. We’re so happy and grateful to be free. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.

Are you being dragged down by the weight of sin? Are you having the life slowly choked out of you? If that’s the condition you’re in, you need to know there’s hope. Call on Jesus and he will break the hold that sin has on you and set you free. Then you can stand up straight and move forward. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Do it today.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

I remember when I was twelve years old, we moved to a new place. It was beautiful, especially after four years of living beside the busy highway. The view of nothing but cars and trucks going back and forth, like rows of ants, got old after a while. Now, we were in a new place. A beautiful place. A place that reminded me of the old west that I had seen on TV. There were fields, and pastures with cows, and horses, creeks and springs, hills and valleys, and a big river where we could fish and swim. Like I said, it was a beautiful place.

I remember immediately wanting to explore as much of my new environment as I possibly could, but my grandmother, being the great parent she was, had some concerns. There were snakes, and other critters to watch out for, and she was worried about us being around a big body of water without adult supervision. She loved us, and she wanted us to have fun but she also wanted us to be safe, so we had time limits on how long we could be gone from the house before we had to come back and let her know we were okay. We didn’t have cell phones back then, and who knows what could happen in a place like that? I was allowed to explore, but she said I needed to check in every hour so she wouldn’t worry so much.

One day, while exploring down by the river, I found an open space in the woods, with a mixture of green grass, and brown weeds, that was totally different from any of the other places I had seen around the river. It wasn’t actually beautiful, like a flower garden. It was very interesting. I was so amazed that God would put that spot there in the middle of the woods where very few people would ever see it. I visited that place time and time again. There was just something about it that kept drawing me back.

I also noticed something else very interesting. Directly across the river, there was a spot without trees that looked quite similar to the spot where I was standing. It appeared to be about the same shape and size as the one on my side of the river. Maybe they were both once part of the same spot before the river ever came through. There was something different about it, though. That grass looked much greener and thicker than the grass on the side where I was. I had to get over there and visit that spot; I just had to.

The desire was so strong that, if I had known how to swim then, I might have jumped in the water, and tried to make it to the other side that day, but I used my common sense and resisted the temptation. I formulated a plan, and the next day I put it into action. I had one hour. I knew there was a bridge somewhere down the river because we had crossed it several times going to my uncle’s house. So, I said goodbye to my sisters and my grandmother and calmly walked toward the field that led to the woods by the river. Then as soon as I was out of sight, I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. I had to make it to that bridge as soon as possible.

I crossed fence after fence and field after field. I kept thinking it should be just around the next turn, only to be disappointed again and again. I started thinking I would never get there. I finally did make it to the bridge and crossed it. Then I headed back up the river on that side in search of that beautiful oasis in the woods. My hour was pretty much up by the time I reached my destination, so I didn’t get to spend much time there, but that wasn’t the most disappointing part. It wasn’t near as beautiful, nor as green as it had appeared when I saw it from the other side of the river. Now it looked exactly like the spot I had viewed it from on the opposite bank. In fact, the spot I had first visited on the other side looked a lot like the spot where I was now standing did when I was on the other side.

When I think about that experience, an old saying comes to mind; “The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.” Well, I can testify that it’s not! I know that phrase is usually spoken sarcastically, and I wish I could say I learned that lesson that day, but, sadly, I can’t. I was raised going to church, and reading the Bible. I was taught to do right, and to avoid “sinful pleasures,” but I still left home at sixteen, and went to the “other side.” After about three years of “sinful pleasure,” I did finally realize that the grass is NOT always greener on the other side. That’s when I truly realized what a sinner I was, and how much I needed a savior.

It’s sad that we humans don’t often learn from the mistakes of others, or the wisdom of those who have been there, and warn us of things we need to avoid. It’s sad that we have to be in the mud with the pigs to see how much better it is to be clean, but that just seems to be human nature.

So when you look at something and think it looks better than where you are now, don’t be so quick to go after it. Investigate first. Pray and see what God says, and remember, the grass is NOT always greener on the other side.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6