yield

Great Harvests Come from Small Changes

April 12, 2018 by Ellen 4 Comments

I am a creature of habit. My iPhone seems to be just like me. Each weekday morning, this is her message:

Only 40 minutes to work, take Highway 90, traffic is light.

Really sista? You need to update. Traffic is NEVER light! You need to get with the program. You need to change.

Yes, Ellen, so do you. It’s time to get with the program.

Ouch. I (almost) hate it when God speaks to me like that. I’ve been trying to roll with the changes in my life, but some of them have thrown me for a loop. So many little changes need to be made to adjust to the larger change. I have struggled with it, I’ll tell ya’.

Throughout, my prayer has been “Lord, what do you want to teach me with this? What is Your heart for me in this season?”

By and large, the answer I’ve been hearing is Yield.

Pretty hard for someone as stiff-neck and stubborn as I am.

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Exodus 32:9 ESV

Yield.

The dictionary defines yield as “surrender; give up the struggle.” Does that mean I have to give up or give in? Does that mean I can’t take a stance, fighting for what I believe?

While there are times to stand firm, what is important right now is to yield, especially to small changes that need to be made.

I didn’t want to shorten my quiet time with God. But ten extra minutes each morning has lowered my stress level and my road rage.

I didn’t want to auto schedule my bill paying (Horrors!! That’s a loss of control!). However, it has made the process much faster and more streamlined, ultimately saving me time.

I didn’t want to miss a week of blogging. My goal is to post weekly. Sometimes, I’m not able to do this. But you know, it’s ok. The world didn’t end. Hard to imagine, but NONE of my twenty or so followers contacted me to complain or ask what happened.

Yield. It is also defined as “produce or provide.”

So, what has surrendering provided for me?

Great peace.

And a glimpse of how yielding to Christ can bring a harvest.

Have you ever seen the head of a mature sunflower that bends low with the weight of its seeds? Eventually the seeds drop to the ground. In due time, they’ll sprout and grow new flowers.

Same with yielding to Christ. When I bend low in humble obedience to the small changes He wants to make in me, the result can bring a great harvest.

I think that’s worth yielding and changing for, don’t you?

Grace be with you,

A Season of Change

November 2, 2017 by Ellen 6 Comments

I watched the leaves fall today. It was a beautiful thing to see them twirling and dancing from the tip tops of the tallest trees, all the way down to the green grass. Yes, green. Even though the calendar says it’s Fall, and there are pictures of colorful foliage all over Facebook, here in south Louisiana we’ve yet to see the leaves change.

Fall is rather sudden down here. One day it’s hot, the next it’s cold. Our leaves are green, then brown, then they fall. No gradual turning from green to golden yellow, to crimson or orange. Green, brown and down.

That’s kinda like what’s going on in my life right now. Lots of change. Sudden change. I don’t like that.

If you were a fly on the wall, watching me trying to navigate this change, you’d probably think “Oooh, that girl does NOT like change of any kind!” By all appearances, that’s what it looks like. But it isn’t the change so much as the way it’s happening. Really fast. Like south Louisiana changing from summer to fall. Overnight. No chance to get the cold weather clothes fluffed and puffed.

I’ve not been able to process all that is happening. You know, mull things over. Abrupt changes throw me. I want to know the why’s and the how’s and then make a plan. At the rate life is speeding by, I have purposed to be more slow and intentional. No so, with this change. Green, brown and down.

And do you know the one thing I want most during this change? My mama.

Mama would listen while I talked it all out with her. She would understand. I can hear her now: “Darlin’ I sure hate that for you!” Mama was my safe, comfortable place.

Many times in the midst of changes and upheavals of life, our first instinct is to revert to what we know best. Our comfort zone. The place we feel safe.

[tweetthis]We look back fondly to what was, instead of looking forward to what could be.[/tweetthis]

We’re not alone in this. The Israelites were the same way. When God was leading them out of Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, He didn’t take them the shortest route toward the Promised Land. God led them the long way around.

‘Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”’ Exodus 13:17

You see, He knows our hearts, our fears and our fight or flight tendencies. He knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our first instinct: go back to what we know, something or some place safe.

Knowing this, He takes us the long way around. No green, brown and down for God! He’s going to lead us through seasons of change. And if we will just yield, and follow Him, we’ll be able to watch the leaves slowly turn: green, yellow, crimson, orange.

Grace be with you,