Good Morning, Glory

We had a nightshirt at the store where I used to work that said this phrase. 

That is a better title than the one I wanted to use, which was "How to Overspiritualize Everything."

We went to an apple orchard last Friday. (And for my mom, pictures are soon to come.)

As we walked up to the apple trees, I was delighted to see that morning glories twined their way through the trees. I sank down to admire their brilliant colors and soft trumpet-like blossoms. They were such a sweet surprise there among the apple trees. I crouched there for a few minutes, taking them in.

As the guide began to tell our group about the trees, she apologized for the weeds. 

"Our bush hog is broken, so we weren't able to clear away the weeds" she explained.

I was looking for the weeds when a lady in our group said, "Oh, do you mean the morning glories?"

"Yes," the guide continued. "They are such a nuisance."

The lady in our group said, "But they are so beautiful! You could sell them and people would buy them."

"Well, they are pretty, but they choke out the apples. They steal the nutrients from the tress and render them useless. If we don't kill the flowers, then we don't have any fruit."

Now you take a minute and tell me you don't see where this is going.

See, I don't look to over spiritualize everything. Most of the time these things leap out of my day and smack me right in the chest.

I thought about those stinking flowers all weekend. 

And to make matters worse, there is a mail box on my morning exercise route that is covered in them.

They are stunning in the early morning sun.

"Weeds. They are not weeds. They are beautiful..." I think.

And then I hear God. 

"What is beautiful in your life that is choking Me out?"

Ugh.

Really?

Tell me that this never ending process of sanctification isn't hard. 

It's hard, but I'm glad. Glad it's there. Glad He doesn't give up. Glad He doesn't leave me here. Glad He's faithful to His Word and to His promises. 

So I'm thinking about what in my life have I allowed to become a weed. To choke out Him?

Money is beautiful. A gift from God.

~have I let it become my security instead of relying solely on Him?

My kids are amazing.

~is my worth as a mother dependent on their behavior or their willingness to obey me?

I really like food and Facebook and Twitter and reading and my friends and exercising and blogging and researching and shoes and...

Are they beautiful things that alone are simple accessories to my life and day or 

are they choking out my Savior?

Diverting my time and my resources and my mind and my affection and my thoughts and my actions and my words and my activities?

There's nothing wrong with email. There's nothing wrong with ministering to friends. There's nothing wrong with church or religious activities or theology and the love thereof.

Until it changes how I act towards God. Until I don't have time to be in the Word. Until I am so caught up in the temporal fleeting reality of this world that He is lost.

And I can justify anything. 

"But I am just..."

"But You called me to..."

"But I just need to..."

"But I am just so..."

Until the Spirit demands that I step back and take a breath.

And see how far from Him I got while I was chasing the beautiful.