Sometime in the month of May, I prayed, “Lord, please keep me from walking in barren places”
I am not exactly sure when, but without pain and the sense of loss, I believe the Spirit of God answered that prayer in the sweetest possible way. He supernaturally excised my appetite for worthless, sensationalized TV shows, listening to the talking heads on the endless cycle of cable news, wasting time on celebrity crazed media news, online forums, frivolous distractions and anything that was unproductive.
He essentially replaced my throne of doom and waste – my black leather couch – with an inner hunger for Him, reading, writing, listening to music but most importantly silence and quiet.
My life has totally changed. I am writing more, inspired by just being focused on the right things. I am not the same person I was before May. I look back at the hours I spent especially on the weekends watching re-runs of American’s Next Top Model, The Game, The Kardarshians, Friends, How I met your Mother, House Hunters, Law and Order, Extra Virgin, Say Yes to the Dress, Cake Boss, LisaRaye the real Macoy, the “Housewives” of all the cities represented on TV Land, Good Eats, The best thing I ever ate, How winning the Lottery changed my life, I even snuck in a few episodes of Bad Girls, Holly’s World and Kendra!!
The list is endless but you can certainly see how I wasted every second of my day in barren places! We tend to forget how LOUD the world is with everything screaming for a piece of us that we get swamped with life, just going through the motions…like zombies and not consciously living.
God engineered us at the core to create and increase. We are not garbage cans for all the unending trash made accessible in the world, media and via technology.
Since I am a believer rooted in the most fertile and flourishing place of God’s grace, there is no excuse for living a barren, fruitless life. I have His covenant-blessing, His word, the anointing, the power in the name and blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit living in me and the calling of the Father to bear the fruit of miracles, love, peace and joy!
The cursed fig tree in the Bible is a picture of an unproductive person. The foliage may look evergreen, but the core is hollow like dead wood.
Our lives can get stagnant in the black hole of unfulfilled dreams, but like the prodigal son, anyone who comes back home will find the Father with arms open wide, waiting on the porch. He squints, searching for a glimpse of any wandering soul. God wants to restore our destiny and redeem any wasted time.
This post about barren places is to remind me and maybe you, to get busy with our lives. Resolve to lay aside distractions, get off the couch and go do something.
Walk your path; Be fruitful and multiply,
Ama
Ama Danesi 