There are times in life when we feel stressed and overwhelmed by daily responsibilities. Family obligations, job stresses, health issues and an array of other things can make us feel as if we are overcome and buried beneath a ton of bricks. We often bury ourselves beneath the weight of unnecessary commitments, circumstances, and even our own poor choices.
In addition, the storms of life can pour more rain on us that any umbrella can withstand. It is at this time we must make the pivotal decision that will determine our outcome. We must each decide if we are buried or planted?
Buried is to be overcome by whatever situation is bearing down and you can’t see your way out from under. Buried is seeing a situation as permanent and immovable. When something is buried it lies dead never to emerge again.
Planted is quite different. Dead seeds are covered with dirt just as something that is buried, however they will eventually emerge transformed into something new! You are planted when you are overcome with the stuff in your life yet expect to rise up from under and into something better, something only God can do!
Our storms dump water on a grave from which nothing will rise forth. For that which is planted, those same storms provide the water necessary for growth, transforming that dead seed into something that will yet live and break out from under the dirt.
We can look at the “dirt” that appears to overtake us and believe we are buried or have faith in God that we are instead planted in that same situation.
The dirt that weighs us down may actually hold the nutrients (circumstances, experience, and maturity) required to grow into what God would have us to become. We all require a unique combination of trials and tribulations if we are to grow instead of wither and die. God truly gives each of us what we need (not necessarily what we want) to grow with Him.
Jesus was planted in the tomb and resurrected into something new. His own disciples didn’t recognize Him upon His resurrection. This same power is available to us when we choose to submit ourselves to God and allow Him to transform us into so much more than we were before!
We need only to ask Him and be changed for the better. Obedience may require that we push through some dirt and weather some storms but it is faith in what God can do that fuels our final outcome.
Which do you choose…buried or planted?
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world,” 1 John 4:4 NKJV
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” John 16:33 NKJV
B Is for Blessed! 