The first time I saw the quaint little 10 x 10 space off of my bedroom I immediately envisioned it as a special place where I would retreat to each morning and record my deepest thoughts, a place to pray my family through life’s most thrilling and difficult times and a place where I could write and grow in the grace and knowledge of my Heavenly Father.
So stunning it was with its soft blue-green walls, large picture windows and built-in bookcases that I was already imagining myself propped behind an exquisite ivory antique writing desk (my grandmother’s drop leaf table table that I would paint) listening to children’s voices through open windows as they played in the backyard below me.
In the opposite corner would be my prayer chair, a creamy white leather tufted slipper chair where I would wrestle to resolve my very purpose and existence. It was like the promised land, a place and a promise and it was mine for the taking.
But… Moving day came and went. I was consumed with unpacking boxes and settling into our new home, planning a graduation party and charting out a new school year. Somewhere in the midst of our first summer my perfect little room was repurposed. First it became a place to stash unclaimed items, and then it became my husband’s home office, and finally a messy little storage room. Over time, the idea of cleaning out the remnants of each became too overwhelming to begin again. Simply put my little room became my fallow ground.
Like me, the nation of Israel also had something wonderful laid out before them, it was THE promised land.
But~ They became so overwhelmed with the cares of this world that they neglected their blessing altogether and they repurposed both their promise and their land,Oh my!
Hosea reminded them how they could have gotten back on track, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12 (NKJV)
Fallow Ground is the uncultivated, unplanted, unsown and seedless places in life. Sometimes it’s a place like my quaint little unclaimed writing space.
Other times it’s a person such as the friend whom I haven’t reached out to for months, or has it been years?
Most often it’s a calling we set aside when life became too busy, when our plans changed or when we decided to run after something else instead.
Whatever the scenario, God reminds us break up our fallow ground while we have both time and opportunity. I do not wish be so caught up in the cares of the world that I miss being caught up in the cares of God so guess what I’m doing? I’m grabbing a shovel and digging in to break up fallow ground.
I have a place and I’m taking hold of it.
I have a people and I’m pursuing them.
I have a calling and I’m running after it.
How about you?