Entangling Vines

Scott and I went on a hike over spring break and about half-way through our hike, we came upon a tree with a large vine growing around it.  The vine had been wrapped around the tree for so long that the tree was growing around and over the top of the vine.  I couldn’t get its deformed image out of my mind the rest of the hike. 

Now, I understand that the tree itself doesn’t have the ability to get rid of the vine, but what bothered me the most was the way the tree appeared to have become very comfortable even adapted to the entanglement of the vine around it.  The tree just kept going on with its life which for a tree means it just kept growing up and out.  However, because of the vine, it grew in a different shape than designed. 

I believe as Christians, we often do the same thing.  There are sins or hindrances in our lives that instead of removing them, we just become very comfortable with them.  We adapt and move on with the choking vine preventing us from normal growth or the growth God has planned for us.  I know one of mine is the entangling vine of busyness.  One night last week I had a cancelation, so after dinner was fixed and put away, I found myself with an unscheduled hour and half. I embarrassingly really didn’t know what to do with this free time.  In Ecclesiastes 4:4-8 we are told that it is a fool who toils to please others.  Now, in this story, Solomon warns that we shouldn’t just fold our hands and do nothing, but one handful of quietness is better than two handfuls of working all the time just to gain what others have. 

Right after the evening with some unexpected free time, I was reading the book Emotionally Healthy Spiritually.  The last few chapters of this book focuses on spending quiet time in God’s presence and keeping the Sabbath.  When you are as entwined with busyness, as I have allowed myself to be, you cannot keep the commandments of the Sabbath, and your life begins to look like the tree we spotted on our hike.    God has so much more for us when we live without vines in our life.

Reflecting on this, I realize I also struggle with always wanting more.  Not always new things, but also more work.  As soon as I get one job around the house finished, I find another one. If I can get this done, the yard will look better.  If I paint that wall, that room will be complete. “If only” is a vine that chokes and twists around us like none other.  Hebrews 13:5 speaks to this.  “Let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have.”  Always wanting more can be another choking vine. 

Enough about all the vines I have in my life.  What vines are twisted around you in your life?  Vines we just live with every day.  Vines we just work around because we have become very comfortable with them.  Vines we don’t even recognize as holding us back from what God has intended for us.  I pray that you find your vines and prune them from your life, so you do not become misshapen as the tree in this picture, but can grow into the beautiful tree you were created to be.