Apply to your heart what you observe...and learn a lesson from what you see...

Today's lesson is from Proverbs 24...the passage is full of applications, different for each one of us, I'm sure...but nevertheless, full of wisdom, and the kind of tools that can truly help you grow...if you want to!

"I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered by weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins."

Let's stop here...this is the first half of the passage, and it desribes the physical condition of the vineyard he observes, as he's walking by...I invite you on this Sunday, to take a virtual stroll past the vineyard of your life...and make some open-eyed observations about what you see...

With respect to your work, your physical health, your financial health, your significant relationships and spiritual health...what do you see? Is your garden in good repair, or is the ground covered in weeds? How is the stone wall that represents protection of that which is most valuable to you? Is it in good repair...? Able to protect against outside threats whenever you need it?

In many ways, I've always reacted to the word "sluggard" in the same way that I react to the word, "glutton." You might could say that I'm too hard on myself...I don't know about that...but I do know that the word "sluggard" is a bit of a hot button for me, and it is one word that I do not want to hear used as a description of me. I mention this only for one reason -- when we have an emotional reaction to a certain word or phrase in a passage of scripture, it can often mean that we shut down our listening receptors, and block out whatever wisdom might be gained from reading the material with an open heart. I have to consciously choose to "stay engaged" while reading this passage, lest I shut out the very wisdom that I need to hear most.

If we visualize the garden that is described in this verse, it conjures up an image of a garden that has been abandoned...perhaps a lone hoe is laying on the ground, covered over in weeds. Where has the gardener gone, and how long ago did he leave? Did he simply quit and walk away? The Proverb also tells us that the stone wall around the vineyard is laying in ruins. Wow. I find this to be a compelling visual image...this gardener has clearly been gone for a long time....and the vineyard has been left for dead. But what are the the lessons?

"I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."

The Proverb does not tell us why the gardener left, but only paints a picture for us of what the vineyard looks like after he does leave. There is no question in my mind that the tale of the overgrown vineyard is a metaphor for our lives...so, if we apply our hearts to the story and are to learn a lesson from it, what would the lesson be?

I haven't done much gardening in my life, and the single most important reason for that fact is the unrelenting d-a-i-l-i-n-e-s-s of the work required to maintain a garden. If you let your garden go for just a few days, the weeds will take over! As my friend Jim Rohn says, "you have to nourish the garden and fight the weeds," and this is an everyday job. Like a garden, we have to nourish our lives and fight the weeds that would overtake us...and we have to do it every single day...and what if we don't do the things everyday that we should do, could do...need to do?

"A little sleep, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a bandit..."

What is poverty? Poverty is lack. Lack of resources...lack of health...lack of options...lack of opportunity...lack of knowledge...and poverty is like a bandit. Constantly, insidiously, pecking away at your vineyard....like a petty thief, poverty steals from you the things that make for a fruitful life.

And then comes "scarcity like an armed man." Do you notice the distinction between poverty and scarcity? One is a bandit, the other an armed man. The bandit is a nuisance...and the bandit steals from you. The armed man represents an entirely different level of menace, and is a threat to your very life.

Years ago, when I was in my early 30's, I walked away from my own vineyard....metaphorically speaking, you could have walked by and seen my vineyard overgrown with weeds and thistles...exposed to the threats of the outside world by a wall that was in ruins. In my situation, the metaphor is most applicable to the area of my personal health and fitness. Rather than fighting the weeds and nourishing the garden, I laid the hoe down, and let my garden be overrun with weeds and thistles. Such disarry doesn't happen in a day or a week...a stone wall doesn't deteriorate into ruins in just a few months...

When we allow our lives to fall into disrepair, it is usually an indication of years of neglect...of a level of abandonment that is significant and sustained over a long period of time. When we do this...when I did this, I put my physical life at risk.,

While sitting with my Mom during her last few days, I was given a chance to walk past the "field of my life..." and take a look at what was going on there; a chance to apply my heart to what I observed, and to learn a lesson from what I saw. I found my garden was in such disrepair, I would need to go out and find extra gardeners to help me bring it back to health.

If you were to walk by my field today, you would still see alot of weeds...and a wall that is "under construction" to be fully repaired. But you would also see me at work in the field...working to nourish the garden and fight the weeds...and you would also see other people that I've asked to come into my garden and work with me, because when I applied my heart to learn from what I saw, I knew that restoring my garden was something I could not do alone.

What would we see if we walked by your field today?