Bare and Exposed...

The kids and I were running errands this morning and took the long way home in hopes of my little one falling asleep in the car. Nap time is just so much easier when he falls asleep there instead of the fighting and constant monitoring that goes into keeping him in bed. The time we have in the car we usually drive a series of backroads that are filled with beautiful barns, open fields and animals. Today was no different as we listened to the radio and watched the peaceful scenery go by.

Not on our drive today - this is the Blue Ridge Parkway - also a beautiful drive in NC!

We are blessed to live in NC where it is just so beautiful. We went up and down rolling hills filled with trees that are shedding their leaves. Most of the leaves are on the ground now but there is still a smattering of trees where the leaves just hang on. They are brown and crispy, serving no real purpose to their host tree. Dead. God used these dead leaves to speak words of life to me.

Just yesterday I was huddled around a table with a group of mom's studying Psalms 51 where it talks about King David coming clean to God about his sin with Bathsheba. After he was confronted by Nathan about his affair and sinful behavior, he took full responsibility for his actions and repented to God for his behavior. It showed how God desires a broken and contrite heart, and even through that brokenness, you can speak praises to God.

I know my family joins the ranks with many other people who are concerned over finances this holiday season. We are all strung tight and spread thin. With the flurry of social media we notice people doing so many wonderful things and I just wish I could just be happy for them instead of wishing I could do the same. Enter bad attitude. People post all of their thankful posts and yes, we are supposed to have an attitude of thankfulness but we have a part in ourselves that long for what we can't have. Ugh. I don't like that feeling. There is always a flip side to what some are thankful for. One woman posts about being thankful for a date night with her husband while I haven't seen one of those in years (well, if you don't count birthing babies during the evening! ;) I could go on and on about what one is thankful for another is grieving but I know you all know what I am talking about.

Brings me back to those leaves. You know the dead ones? While they can be good, and beautiful in their own way, they aren't necessary. They are meant to be shed. They are meant to fall off and leave the tree exposed and barren. Broken, bare minimum for healing. Isn't that the attitude that David was speaking of in the Psalms?

How many times do we try to do things in our own strength. Me for one is Queen of saying "oh, if I do A and B, then C will be perfect!" Only for the next week to be giving myself the same ol' pep talk. God desires for us to be broken and contrite. Lay it all open for Him to heal and mold. Ugh... Am I worth it? Will God love me even in my faults? Yes. Our sacrifice is to share His goodness and sing his praises even in the midst of brokenness. Then those buds will form and new life will take over. Those leaves will have fallen away to new growth.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

May we all learn what it is to be broken before God. Let us shed our attitude of self-righteousness before others and all come together and sing His praises in the midst of us being bare before Him. He will fill us with everything good and we will become new creations in Him!