WEED KILLIN’

By Jessica Breazeale

Looooong before Zacchaeus couldn’t see Jesus, God had already planted the tree to meet that need.

You remember the story, don’t you? The song “Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he” taught us about the short, dreaded tax collector who climbed the tree to see Jesus coming down the road.

It’s not like Zacchaeus randomly decided to climb up the tree, and then the story is over. The story began way before Zacchaeus. God planted that tree, in that spot, and made sure it had grown that height for the moment Zacchaeus needed to climb it to be able to see Jesus for the event to be recorded in history for us all to read about. The event was NOT merely happenstance.

Same for us. What we go through daily isn’t just random occurrences. I don’t believe that. I believe it’s all a training ground if we so choose to be trained.

We can’t see past our circumstances sometimes. We’re living in the moment in real time.

We may say:

“I’m broke.”

“I’m tired.”

“I’m lonely.”

“I’m jobless.”

“I’m hopeless.”

“I’m stuck. “

But there’s something past your circumstances. God saw all of this LONG before you did. He already has a plan. He’s already created the way out of it and over it.

God did not verbally tell Zacchaeus to climb up the tree to see Jesus. Zacchaeus made the quick decision to get closer to Jesus…to see him.

Nearly two years ago, on vacation, I was doing what people do on vacation… trying to rest! I was floating down a lazy river, just resting and being lazy, and truly out of nowhere, God gave me a fresh word for my soul. And He gave me one when I desperately needed it…and didn’t know it.

I got back to the hotel room and wrote it all down so I wouldn’t forget. My husband and son were sleeping, so I stayed up late to type it out. I’m not a good sleeper anyway, but I do think that when it’s quiet, I can connect better with the Father.

The next morning, I explained it to my husband to make sure he understood it and that I even understood it. He LOVED IT and said it was awesome. I hope you do, too. If not, maybe it’s not for you. I don’t know who this is for. Probably mostly for me…but here goes.

Phototropism = a weird word for people without a green thumb. Definitely me. I can’t keep a plant alive to save my own life. So, I had no reason to know this word. I never made straight A’s in science, either.

Phototropism is a response that causes house plants to lean towards the window. Have you seen that? Yes, phototropism is the process that makes trees bend towards the light. Trees do not sense which way is up; rather, their growth follows the direction from which light comes. This phenomenon, phototropism, of bending towards the light, is when light comes in from an angle. Plants will curve towards it to get better access so they can grow.

See picture below for example.

Plants absorb the light, which gives them energy, so bending towards it will help them to keep getting it.

Is this a direct parallel to our life? I vote yes!

The son of God said, “I am the light of the world…unable to be hidden.”

Like a tree or plant, if we want to grow, we need to make the effort and bend towards The Light. We can “make like Zacchaeus” and bend towards the light – JESUS and HIS WILL.  HIS LIGHT GIVES US POWER and PURPOSE.

If we don’t feel fully charged, fully nourished, fully fed…it could be some weeds as the culprit choking out the opportunity to bend towards the light. ONLY YOU can identify the weeds. In most cases, it’s many things.

Take some needed time to self-reflect to determine the weeds, how many weeds, where the weeds came from, and the root cause of the weeds. We gotta dig waaaaaay down deep and get to the roots to see what’s choking out your ability to bend towards His will and His light. Only you can do this.

Self-reflection takes a lot of time and never really ends. But the reward is in the hard!

If we want to grow, find our purpose, be happy, healthy, and whole, let us constantly bend towards the light!