Cucumber Vines And Mama Hearts {We’re All Clinging To Something}

Dear Heart:

You are clinging to something.

You know that, right?  You know that on the dark and quiet nights when you feel alone.  You know it on the busy, restless nights when you’re wiping tears, changing sheets, calming fevers.

You know it in the summer and you know it in the winter.  You know it when all’s right with your world and you know it when all you can pray is a whispered, desperate, “Help me, Jesus.”

You are always, always clinging to something.

Sometimes you cling white-knuckled to Fear.  As if that has ever helped.  Old habits are hard to break.

Sometimes you hold on to your Own Strength.  Stubborn, you think that you can fix it, that you HAVE to fix it.

Like a cucumber vine that will grab and choke a weed, if it can’t find a trellis to climb up – you are always clinging to something.

Sometimes – and these are the best times – you cling to Him.

Yes, Him.  He’s not an Idea and He’s not a Philosophy.  He’s a Someone.

He’s your Shelter, He’s your Loving Arms, He’s your Father, He’s your Guide.  And just when you think you’ve got the hang of this clinging-on-to-Him thing, you’ll find that all along… He’s been clinging on to you.

And that verse you’ve read a thousand times, the one you thought you’d memorized, the one you’ve written in hundreds of cards and up on walls… you missed a line.

It says:

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

(Isaiah 40:11).

You’ve made it your lifeline because it speaks to your mama-heart.  He gently leads those that have young.  But there’s more.

And that part you missed: He carries them close to His heart.  For some reason, you’ve skipped over it whenever you read.  Why is it hard to believe?  Why is it hard to imagine?  Why is it hard to accept that Someone so wonderful would want to hold you so close?

But He does.  He does hold you close.  Close to His heart.

So hold back.  Hold on to Jesus.  That’s a love you don’t ever want to let go of.

And listen to this song by Chris Rice… a favorite for all time… because there’s never a bad time to cry out to Him, to dance for Him, to sing for Him, to write for Him, to serve for Him, to fall on Him.  Jesus, who fell upon the Cross for you.

 

Clinging to Him like a cucumber vine,

 

Laura