My husband and I have spent a week working to get a huge dead limb out of the top of our tree. It’s been hanging around for a while and has been an eyesore to us, but today, when we finally got it down, the rest of the tree seemed to cry out in praise. Within hours, the limbs surrounding where the dead branch was, had come alive. The leaves have lifted up and are glowing in their new found sunshine!

This made me think of how we carry dead stuff in our lives and how it not only affects our whole being, but affects those around us too. Sometimes we don’t realize how our attitudes, words, emotions, and actions are affected by the lifeless joy within.

The dead things in our hearts keep us distant and restrained, and until we take the necessary time to identify and cut away those jaded, limp, or worn out places, the life that’s waiting to sprout remains dormant.

The Lord is waiting to remove the rotten. If only you’ll reach out to Him. Even when He seems unreachable, or the decay seems way too spoiled, God is there to shine His light on you and bring you life – a new life that will bring you joy and peace, and leave you crying out in praise!

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.””

Isaiah 55:12-13 NIV