We have a pretty large tree in our front yard that, after some inspection, we suspected had some termite damage. After a few seconds of panic, I called a plant guy to ask how to get rid of the wood-eating pests. I wanted to save our tree, but even more importantly, I didn’t want wood-eating insects setting up permanent residence near my house! According to this friend, one of the best ways to keep termites out, is to keep my tree healthy. A dry, damaged, or dying tree attracts the pests, who crave the dried wood. They don’t actually eat healthy trees. We got to work watering, fertilizing, and removing dead branches.
This same method could be applied to the heart. To protect your heart, and avoid the things that erode your well-being and spiritual health, you can focus on two things:
growing rather than avoiding
filling rather than emptying
Sometimes, when faced with something in our life that needs to change, we spend an incredible amount of energy trying to eliminate it.
If I realize I have an addiction to social media, I try to stay off social media. If I realize some of my friends influence me to make poor choices, I either fight the peer pressure or avoid the friends. If I realize I am spending every evening of a stressful week watching hours of television or drinking too much wine, I try to cut it out. ‘Just say no’ works for a season. Well, not even a season – more like, the first couple of tries.
Ultimately, what I have learned, is that what I put IN is much more important than what I take OUT. Philippians 4:8 tells us “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”
When we spend our time thinking, reading, participating, doing such things as listed above, we have little time for the less noble fillers. This is feeding the tree!
Feed your heart the word of God. Spend time watering it through prayer and healthy relationships. Replace endless scrolling on social media with painting, learning an instrument, playing a game with a friend. Let’s not focus on eliminating things from our lives. Let’s focus on putting the right things in…and lots of it!
Here’s an additional challenge. When it comes to words, sometimes it takes more positive words to fill than it takes negative words to erode. As we begin to grow the trees of our spirits, by filling our lives with the admirable and praiseworthy, it will change the language we use with ourselves and our people.
Know that growth takes time. The leaves of a tree will not grow after a single watering session.
It seems like relationships and progress in certain areas can be demolished with one unfiltered phrase or one lapse in judgment. But take heart! God is with us and He is full of grace for us. Have grace for yourself and those around you.
Keep growing your tree by keeping it full of good. Eventually there will be less and less space for the pests.
Candace Cortez is Executive Pastor at Koinonia Church in Hanford, CA. She can be reached at candace@kchanford.com or 559-582-1528.