Vines and Thorns

“I fight the ones I care about”

No. That was not a typo nor was it a misquote. But let’s think about it for a second.

“I fight the ones I care about”…

It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Can you imagine claiming to love or care about someone and then fighting them at every turn? Well as much as it seems far fetched, it’s so true. People who true care about us have to fight us to get to us, make sense? If not, let me clarify. Let’s say you’re an explorer or better yet, you’re an environmentalist. You love the rainforests as if they were your own children. But let’s also say that you’re going into the rainforest doing research on a precious plant that is located in the heart of the rainforest. Now, we all know that there aren’t natural paths leading to what you’re there to get. No. Sometimes you have to grab your machete and hack away at the vines, thorns and overgrowth. You’d have to push your way through the things that get in the way at what you’re after: the precious plant at the heart of the rainforest. It’s like that with us. There are precious things about us all but some of us have allowed vines and overgrowth to make the paths to our heart harder and harder to find. Then there are others who keep those vines, thorns and overgrowth to protect ourselves and fight against anyone who tries to hack away at them. I know because I’m one of those people.

But what I’m wondering is why? Why do we continue to fight the people who are only trying to get to the wonderful parts of us? Why haven’t we let people in? Why do we continue to fight? I know for me, it was because I always won.

But what happens when you fight someone who is trying to get inside and lose? Do you continue to fight hoping that 2nd time’s a charm? Sometimes I grow tired of fighting people but I’ve set it in my head that it’s “necessary”. When is it ever necessary to fight people who are only trying to help us? Is it because we don’t need help?

Well the answer is yes. We do need help. We need God’s help. And we need the help of the people that He’s placed in our lives to fight our obstinacy and realize that we are precious and special and do not need to hide it from people.

So after saying all this, I challenge anyone who is reading this (thank you by the way ) to take what I said and use it. Open up to more people. Try your best not to fight people and ask God for His help and guidance every step of the way.

And if you’re a fighter like the ones I was mentioning before, I encourage you to keep fighting and stay strong. God will bless you and give you the strength to continue forward despite what lays ahead.

Till next time!