Even though the rose-bush is dead, the thorns can still be dangerous.
While I was recently working in the yard, I came across this dead rose-bush. I was relatively certain it was dead at the end of last summer. We just got too much rain, but I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, it had some life in it. It didn’t. It had been a housewarming gift from a close friend some nine years ago and I hated to lose it, but I knew it needed to go. The time had come.
As I attempted to dig it up, it became clear very quickly, that although the roots were dead, the thorns were still quite dangerous. I had to go and get some gloves in order to proceed.
This rose-bush really made me think about things or situations in our everyday lives that we have closed the door on. When we have painful issues in our past and we just let them die instead of digging them and discarding them in the trash, they can have the potential to inflict pain on the present.
When we make the decision to walk with Jesus and we ask for forgiveness for past sins, they are forgiven. Jesus does his part. But, sometimes the most difficult step in the forgiveness process, is forgiving ourselves. It can be painful to revisit past hurts or guilt, so sometimes instead of doing the hard work of healing, we just kind of let those things scab over and die in place.
But, here’s the problem with that plan, sometimes those issues may have thorns that can continue to harm us. We can replay past mistakes and bad choices over and over. We become self-focused and we lose sight of the redemptive grace that covers all of our sins, not just the easy ones.
When we become self-focused, we can’t be God-focused. Who wins then?
Sometimes I think it’s important to do a little self-inventory, looking for hurts, guilt, anger or shame we may be carrying around deep in our souls. We may not have any and if so, that’s fantastic. March onward Christian soldier!
But, if we are holding on to some kind of thorny emotion from our past, then we should really devote some prayer time to letting it go. We need to be willing to put it at the foot of the cross and leave it there, going out joyfully into the world knowing that nothing is too hard for God and He wants us to be free from past sins to walk into a future full of Him.
That’s something I can really get behind. What do you think about thorns from the past? I’d love to hear from you.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂