Daily wisdom – shrivel
This is the first time I have responded to Sound Eagle’s invitation to link to the daily wisdom page.
There are six categories:
Linked posts have to be inspired by one of these.
I am writing about the Word of the day.
Shrivel
This morning I spent my usual early morning time in Bible reading and prayer. I use New Daylight from the Bible Reading Fellowship. Today the passage was from Jeremiah and the notes were written by Margaret Silf. The image of a tree putting its roots down into water was considered to be like us putting roots deep into God so we might grow and bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
Next I logged into WordPress and browsed through the new posts on the Blogs I follow. Roll away the stone’s post was also about growth.
The concept of growing by being rooted in God, reminded me that Jesus claimed to be the vine, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” Roots are usually out of sight. There is a visible part of a vine, perhaps. God has revealed himself to us through Jesus. This is a constant theme in the writings of St John.
Arlee Bird’s Sunday post, which I had not found time to read until today referred to Psalm 139 – a particular favourite of mine, because a friend used it to help me recover from a bereavement. The Bottom of a Bottle also had a post referring to a different verse in the same psalm.
This Psalm talks about our inability to hide from God’s presence. Where can I go from your presence? (Verse 7)
So how am I relating this to the word for the day?
Anyone who has ever observed plants will know that they either grow or shrivel.
They may be dormant for a season, but usually they are growing or shrivelling.
Are you dormant? Time to wake up!
Put your trust in God and water your seed of faith. He does not desire that you shrivel, but that you should grow and produce fruit. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
Since I started writing this post, I have been out to the ladies’ Bible study. I seem to have acquired the role of picking a hymn or chorus to sing. Today I arrived with hymn books, but nothing in mind. I opened the words only copy at random and saw a song I liked, but the one next to it jumped out at me. We sang, “Fear not, rejoice and be glad” about God pouring out his Spirit. It also links with growth of fig trees and the Church and is relevant to the passage we were studying from 2 Samuel. The author is Priscilla Wright Porter.
Sue's Trifles 