Sometimes we don’t see the damage to our roots or the foundational core of our being until we’ve fallen or become visibly “cut down.”

It’s up to each of us to decide to lay where we’ve fallen to rot and decay away from whom we know we are Divinely, or to get up and walk into the space we know is ours to hold in the world... for ourselves and for one another. 

Don't be another ”Dead Man Walking” as sung by: Jeremy Camp. 

How many of us have spent much of our lives leaning or going out of the way we knew we were meant to go in our lives... to please or “go along with” what others told us we should; or, to be the consolation for others? If we do it for too long, we forget how to stand on our own; or to become all we were perhaps meant to be. All too soon, we realize the things that anchored our souls in our youth have been so uprooted, we risk toppling over if we don’t reconnect with the soul’s anchors to refuel. 

Are you ready to exclaim ”Not Today” by: Hillsong United? 

Isn’t it fascinating how birds can build enormous nests at the ends of branches or stand on branches that do not look like they would hold their weight, yet, they do, seemingly… miraculously. 

We need to remember, birds leave the nest for a large portion of their days.  The branch gets a break from the weight placed upon it. 

As humans, sometimes we can forget to honor our much needed self-care. 

We need to allow our own “branches” to take a break from things weighing our lives and our hearts down, so we don’t feel as though we’ll “snap like a twig.” 

Proclaim ”I Stand Here,” like Hannah Kerr, so you too... can soar! 

When we are born, we have all the freedoms and possibilities of God’s amazing imagination and planning for our lives. 

How many times do we need to get to a point of feeling like we’ve been dragged down, weighed down, pushed, pulled, twisted, or entwined with the “weight of the world” or others within our inner circles, before we realize we’ve done it for so long we no longer remember where we knew our lives were meant to go; and we’ve lost the essential BEauty God planted within us? 

Let’s have the courage to cut the vines and branches weighing down, burdening, and preventing our inner Light to shine from the depths of our souls, as God intended. 

Let's all begin singing ”The Breakup Song,” by:  Francesca Battistelli! 

At first glance, some things may not seem so detrimental.  Take the first picture, which merely looks as if the smaller tree is providing some minor support for the larger tree. 

Upon closer inspection of the second picture from a different angle, we see the larger tree’s need was so much greater than the other tree had resources to provide, in keeping it aloft. 

Just as we humans tend to want to “rescue” fellow humans, despite knowing we lack the strength or capabilities at times by giving from wells not refilled enough or vast enough to draw from for the other’s needs... we can permit the uprooting of our inner peace and souls. 

It’s okay to say “No.”  It’s okay to make self-care a priority.  No, it is ESSENTIAL to make and take time for self-care. 

It’s better for everyone when we stop avoiding that “Little Voice Inside,” as Jaci Velasquez, sings so eloquently. 

Sometimes things we do or places we go can make us feel like we are trapped. 

But, are we actually surrounded by bars preventing us from changing our locations or situations, or are they merely an illusion we choose to see; because, we are afraid of embracing our fears of changing and the uncertainty of the unknown? 

Guess what?  ”God Only Knows, ” according to For King and Country... but, WE have the power to share who we are with others!  Open up, let your Light shine! 

The Bible’s book of Mark in Chapter 5: 34…. depicts a story about the emotive… “If I could only touch the robe of Jesus… I’d be healed.”  

At our worst moments, those deep, dark moments we’ve felt alone and we didn’t give up… those were our moments… the moment we laid down our hurt/pain and “touched the healing robe of the Divine.” It's the moment we reached out for healing; but, when we listened in that moment, we felt the hand of the Divine resting on our hearts… hearing the whisper… “everything you need to heal… is already within you, my child.”       

Casting Crowns sings a BEautiful and heartfelt songs called “Scars in Heaven,” which talks about “the scars we’ve picked up along the way…” and how “they won’t belong to me and you,” once we’ve passed from this earthly life. Hallelujah there will be no scars in Heaven, except “on the hands of the one who holds us” each day we are on earth. What could we accomplish… if we lay them down, now? 

https://youtu.be/FCAxEwl-N9w