Dying flowerDo you like to garden? I want to like to garden. I love when I have beautiful flowers in my yard. I love the way they make things cheery; however, at times I fail to give the flowers the attention they need.

My grandmother could make anything grow. Her house looked like the cover of a Southern Living magazine, a full rainbow of color. I wish I had spent more time with her learning about gardening. A friend of mine has a similar gift. She told me to deadhead my flowers so they’ll put out more flowers. Deadheading sounds rather violent, but I learned it is nothing more than pinching off the dead flowers. Think of it as weeding your flowers.

Deadheading keeps your flower beds attractive, but it also gets rid of dead or dying parts of a plant so the energy source of the plant can go towards fueling new growth.Dead flower

We all have areas of our lives that could use a little deadheading from time to time… activities or relationships that are dead or dying that seem to suck the life out of us. If we don’t weed them out, we’ll find they can suck the very life out of us.

Some of the young ladies I work with who have come out of sex trafficking have a hard time embracing this concept. They want to be out of the life, yet they want to maintain the friendships they developed while in the life. It’s impossible to walk away from that industry while maintaining connections with people still in it. It’s dangerous. Pimps aren’t eager to see one of their girls leave them.

Drug addicts or alcoholics can’t hang out with the very people they used to party with and stay clean for very long, if at all. They will be sucked back into old ways and habits [Matthew 16:6, 1 Corinthians 5:6,8].

Is there an area of your life that needs deadheading? Is there a habit or a relationship that is draining or sucking the very life out of you? Call to the one who is able and willing to help you [Jeremiah 33:3]. He can help you thrive.

Thriving flower