Under the Neem Tree

“Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four…” I slowly counted in my mind the number of little drops of sweat running down my back. 106 degrees in the shade is pretty warm, even sitting under a beautiful Neem tree. It was the last day of my recent trip to India and I was taking a break and talking with Jaipaul, the missionary who graciously hosted me for the first few weeks of July during my stay in a little Indian village. Between swatting mosquitos and flies and counting drops of sweat (and the minutes until I was going to fly away in an air conditioned plane) I was only half paying attention as we talked about the Widow’s program, orphanage, and life in Seattle. (If you aren’t familiar with my trip, there are a couple blogs that will tell you more about it on reforming the feminine and my personal trip blog.)

Suddenly Jaipaul got a little more serious in his discussion about Jesus and Cross-centered living. He reached over for my journal and pen. Quietly he wrote one sentence.

It really got my attention. Each time I look at it, it still resonates really deeply in my soul … more deeply than I really think I’m aware of. “Abandon anything that is not giving any Joy of the Lord or giving you energy”

Wow. Of course I know there are lots of little things, hindrances, habits, whatever, that aren’t always the best choice, but I think I like to excuse the “little things” with the concept of grace far too often. I thought about this sentence and realized just how many little and big things that I could abandon in exchange for peace and joy, but instead I sit here and choose all these little things that rob me of Joy!

Processing all the things that I saw and heard on my trip is taking a while, but as I was reading my journal and saw that I realized this is a truth that I will be letting sink in deeper into my soul probably the rest of my life. I can’t encourage you to do this because I have done it 100% and am on the other side and can say “Hey it’s GREAT over here, come on over!” Nope. I definitely am sitting on the same side as you are, looking at all the little things I don’t want to abandon and wondering if it really is more joyous over there. But I hope I can encourage you that from what I know to be true about Jesus and his Word I think there is a lot of hope and truth in this sentence and my prayer is that every day the Holy Spirit will enable me to abandon those things that are not giving me Joy and run to him and embrace the things that will give me joy and strength.