Fall leaves covering the plant
It’s all but buried beneath the fallen leaves, the life that clings to the hasta bush. Each year it happens this way and each year I cut it all back so that it may grow dormant for the winter and in the spring when my landscape looks like dirt I am surprised by the buds of growth once more.
Like the dried leaves falling from the Autumn trees life falls upon us all covering us, suffocating us and pushing our life down into a dormancy. We try to fight off the covering but many times just lie beneath it all wondering if we will ever make our way back to the surface. The weight of the world’s demands sometimes crushes our existence. As odd as it may sound or contrary as it may seem we need to cut it back to let it grow once more. We need to stop taking on the weight of the world and let go of the things that do not serve our lives to our full potential. We feel as though we must do everything that is offered to us; committees, coaching, clubs, volunteering, working longer hours, going to more social events. But the truth is we need to focus.
Our lives were designed with a purpose in mind. That purpose is a bit different for each of us but we were all meant to live our lives to the best of our ability to love ourselves and each other unconditionally. When we are buried and barely able to see around us how can we love? Each activity offered to us can be a beneficial opportunity for growth but when we say yes to everything nothing works and we find ourselves overwhelmed, smothered, overworked and barely able to breathe.
Reflect on those cracked and dried leaves that you are buried beneath at this moment. Which activities and commitments only serve to give you stress, anxiety and negative energy? Cut them back. Which activities give you fulfillment, positive feedback and pleasure, not without effort but for a purpose that serves others and your ultimate purpose in life? Those are the activities you must nurture and help to grow but you don’t have to do them all at once. Our lives are a progression, one thing, and one event at a time. We do not need to multitask our purpose in this life.
Cut back the dying stalks, no that in the death you will be renewed to new life in the growth of the spring, the positive portions of your life. Today, clear out the leaves of fall and let the process begin.
Love the analogy you used to illustrate how we often take on way too much. So much so that we literally drain our life of sustenance.
Twice today the topic of “our purpose” came up. The catechism question I memorized as a child that two of us could rattle off in unison is about our purpose. WHO MADE YOU? God made me. WHY DID GOD MAKE YOU? God made me to know, love, and serve Him, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.
The “how” of living out our reason for existence, our purpose IS different for each of us. Jesus set an example for us, the Spirit leads and helps us remember the guidelines of the commandments and beatitudes, and Jesus summarized the commandments – “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart and soul, and your neighbor as yourself”.
Many times in my life God has revealed something He wanted me to learn or reflect on has come in threes. Since your reflection is the third…I’ll spend some quality time tonight reflecting on my purpose.
This post also reminds me that it’s not from our works that we’re saved. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the doing, we miss the focus.
Thanks for the reminder!