Entangled

Hebrews 12:1a

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." 

There was an unwritten list of things I needed to do today, especially in light of the fact that I am leaving for Haiti in 5 days. Yet I found myself doing yard work. I already mowed yesterday, so that should have been my extent of it for the week. As I was mowing, (and every time I do), I find myself dodging this:

Yes, that is a shrub, or a tree. I'm not sure. In our front yard. Lovely, isn't it? Try riding a lawnmower under that. Not so fun. So, I decided I would do a little trimming. Now, I do not claim to have any shade of green on my thumbs. Something I did not inherit from my mama. So, I'm well aware for all you who do, (especially my cousin landscape architect) and know that it probably is not the "time of year" do trim back your shrubs. I don't care. I was tired of looking at this thing.

As I began to cut, what I knew was there all along, I quickly realized in order to do much good, I needed to just cut low. The shrub-tree-thing no longer looked like it was supposed to, for it had been overtaken with honeysuckle.

It took some cutting, but eventually the weight of the vines was too much to bear, and began to fall. As I began more of a botanical surgery, I noticed the thin vines on top were coming from a stronger source.

Wrapped around several stems were these guys. My guess is they had to have been there for a while, to be this thick. It was not lost on me what these look like:

Their serpentine hold on the shrub had overpowered it. It did what was in its nature to do- entangle. What once was probably a little shrub-tree, (again, I don't have a clue!), planted with intentions of landscaping what was once a newly built home, now looked nothing like what their original owner had in mind.

As I severed the stems, along with the vines, John 15 came to mind. 

Jesus says,   

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

Just like the honeysuckle vine, there is so much in our lives that entangles us, making us look nothing like what the Lord intends for us to. We are alive, trying to grow, but like the seed planted in thorny soil, the Word gets choked out by the world, and soon we are overtaken. Freedom can only come through the Master Landscape Architect, the Gardener, who cuts away the thing that has twisted itself around us. 

When He is done, we definitely won't look like we did before.  

We. Are. Changed.

But the weight of that which easily entangled us is gone. 

No, probably not forever, at least on this side of eternity. It will be a continual pruning, a constant battle, because we are human. We struggle with the old man. But when the cutting has been done, others will notice too. 

If you drive by my yard, you will probably notice as well. You will see the pile of twigs, leaves and vines on the road. You may glance over, noticing the strange looking shrub-tree-like things and how crazy they look. 

But more than my yard (that will never win yard of the year!), I pray you see my life and your life as that shrub-tree-like thing, that either has been cut or needs to be, in order to change what we look like. 

Hopefully, it will be more like Christ.