Why Cultivate

What it means to Cultivate your Life…

I was looking at my IG page today. Looking at my old posts, and my website. Thinking of how it is adding value to the world. More like IF it’s adding value. I kind of send my posts into the abyss of the internet and see if what happens. I asked myself if I stopped today… would anyone notice. Then my heart heard, what are you doing it for? THINK>> PONDER>> REPOSTURE

Cultivate started with a download from God. I know nothing about gardening or cultivating soil, but I know what its dirt looks like. Moreover, I know what dirt looks like in my life. My failures. My insecurities. My anxieties. My pain. I know what that looks like. I also know what growth looks like to take my pain and cultivate it into a life worth living. Empowered. Self-aware. Loved and seen.

I know that in the ugliness of the soil and can see that seeds were planted, and growth begins when I focus on the seeds and the beauty that rises.

1 Timothy 4:11-16 in the Message Translation talks about setting an example to the believers in how we live. It tells us to stay in what we have been doing. Reading scripture and leading as when we first we told. But in verse 15-16 Paul tells Timothy to “cultivate these things” and “immerse himself in them”. We are not just living our lives for ourselves, but as we grow in him, it has no other choice to spread to others and they will grow too.

Cultivate is too bring life and nutrients back into the soil. But it spread the nutrients to the entire ground.

I once had a yard full of weeds. No lush green grass. Just weeds and rocks. And I, having no green thumb did not know how to fix it. I mean I heard you were supposed to put “weed and Feed” but what does that mean? I heard, “Don’t over water it.” “Don’t under water it.” “Don’t apply it when it’s too hot.” What in the world!!

I didn’t want to kill my lawn more than it was already. I did the next best thing. I called the pros. I called a lawn care company that would do the work for me. I know… maybe I wasn’t willing to trust myself, but this was a living thing. I was doing it a favor, plus I wanted to salvage any grass I had left.

So, the man came out and examined my yard. He told me it wasn’t that bad. (I think he was being kind.) But then He said something to me that clicked with me and why we cultivate soil.

He said, “The focus should never be on getting rid of your weeds, it should be on getting your grass healthy.”

What!?!

He stated that if we focus on getting the grass healthy it would become strong enough and overtake the weeds.

I swear he was a prophet, because I immediately thought of my own life and not my lawn anymore. I immediately thought… “God is so cleaver, He sent this man to tell me that I have been living my life wrong all this time.” Not that I was living wrong, but my perspective was wrong. We live our lives according to what we have been taught. Whether on purpose or not. In this case, I was taught to not mess up. Getting it wrong brings punishment. I didn’t doesn’t matter where I learned it, it only matters that it was an awakening moment and I wanted to thrive in life and not shrink back.

Sometimes inside me was set free. All this time I struggle with me can’t, my faults, my worries, and my short-comings when I should be focusing on my strengths.

When I am weak, He has been made strong. If I get to boast in my weakness, it’s because I can still marvel at His strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I started examining my life. All the time I said to myself if I can just fix this about me. If I can just learn this. If I can just be a better mom… wife… friend. I all needed was stop trying to be perfect and perform. If I could accept that if I focus on what I am good at, what I contribute, then my weakness will no longer be the weed in my yard. It will get choked out by my vibrant and beautiful life.

I am not denying there are weeds, I am denying its place in my life to thrive.

So thus, began my journey of cultivating my life. It started with a thought, then it a lifestyle. It has brought me to a place of flourishing in my life. My journey. My freedom. My voice in a world where we never know who’s listening or seeing.

I would be lying if I said I don’t want my posts or blog to be seen. On the contrary. I want the world to see. I want them to know that if freedom is possible. That a thriving life is possible. If they want to change their life, it is possible to cultivate their life.

God wants your life to thrive and flourish. He wants you to be fearless and fully loved. When we stop focusing on the weeds in our lives, we can focus on cultivating the healthy grass. What little we think we have, and it will cause us to grow.

#cultivateyourlife

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