The Key to Fulfilling God’s Promise
I recently wrote about my goal of talking less and listening more, of focusing more on others. This, I concluded, meant altering my habit of speaking all of my thoughts aloud.
However, there’s often another, hidden cause for my overlong stories and dazzling displays of knowledge: the desire to get something. What?
Approval. Why? To assure that I won’t be rejected. I’m trying to prove that I’ve earned a place here, wherever “here” might be. In this job. In this relationship. Even this family.
At the risk of playing amateur psychologist, it didn’t help that my father used phrases like, “If you had half a brain you’d be dangerous!” As a kid, I thought, “It’s a good thing I don’t have half a brain!” Dad often threatened to give me “something to cry about” when I reacted in fear to one of his angry outbursts. Then he’d walk away in disgust and never mention it again. Leaving me to wonder whether this was it, the final, one-way ticket to rejectionland. His love felt conditional. It wasn’t, but he didn’t know how to communicate that.
It wasn’t punishment I feared. It was rejection.
So, tell me again, what are the conditions for unconditional love? Oh, yeah, there aren’t any. But I didn’t get that. And some part of my less-than-half-a-brain still doesn’t get it. So I sing for my supper. I tell a witty story or impress with my knowledge for the wrong reason—to get something, rather than give something. Acceptance. Love.
Enter God.
Two months ago, while praying about my longstanding promise from God, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15), I suddenly realized I’d missed the key to fulfilling that promise, the basis for my “quietness and confidence”: God’s unconditional love. I was standing under an oak tree at the moment, and happened to look down at this perfect little acorn. Then God’s spirit whispered to me, “That’s your promise, Mitch. Now plant it in your heart and let it grow. I suddenly thought of another favorite verse, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). As I type this, I’m fighting back tears, recalling that the Hebrew root word for oak, “el,” means “strong.” It’s from the same root as the word for God.
My strength is rooted in Him.
That acorn lives on my dresser now, as a reminder that I’ve finally planted God’s promise in my heart. And often when I speak, I tap my chest, reminding myself that “God lives here” and He will never leave me. So I’m free to speak less and say more. And if I do choose to tell a story or share a bit of knowledge it need only be because I have something to give–I no longer need to get anything.
I already have all I need.
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Excellent post Mitch. Thanks for the reminder, I think I’ll
Go out and find an acorn today!
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I, too, grew up with parents whose communication skills left me feeling I was a disappointment, no matter how hard I tried. God’s unconditional love was the first I knew, and I am still growing into God’s love and then, by extension, learning to accept it from others. Thank you for sharing from your heart.
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I hear you, Madeline.
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Two thoughts: 1) Thanks for sharing this and being so vulnerable. I often have felt exactly as you describe. 2) I think your dad and my dad went to the same school of dadding.
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I suspect they did, Steve. Thanks!
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Thanks for sharing your “acorn,” Mitch. 🌰❤️
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Fantastic post! So true. Thank you for the wonderful reminder.
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You’re so right, Mitch. In Christ we no longer need to get anything. What an awesome and reassuring truth!
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Well said.
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Thanks, Andrew.
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Amen!! Deep truth planted in deeply furrowed soil is sure to bear an unimaginable and majestic result, by the amazing grace of God. Thanks for sharing so vulnerably and identifiably, Mitch.
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Aw, bless you, and good to hear from you, Anne.
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Deeply resonates with me. Thank you for sharing. God’s love is so magical and consistent ❤️
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Indeed it is, Turath.
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A beautiful story here, “Grandpa”.
Thanks for sharing.
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;>)
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This post resonated with me so much today. As I am trying to become a better listener as well. Great aspirations. Thank you for sharing.
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My pleasure, Pene.
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Amen, brother
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I can relate to this on so many levels. Thank you for the honesty and encouragement this post offers.
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My honor, Russ.
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So love this post, Mitch! I have replanted a small oak tree (Oakley) and am watching another small one (Oscar) grow in our garden. I told my husband I want to see how tall they can get! Your post spoke to me today!
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So happy to hear that, Valerie.
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Wow. We really could be twins separated at birth. Discounting the fact that I am several years older than you. 😉
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Really? I actually thought it was the other way around, Linda.
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I wish! My oldest will be 50 next year. He’s the grandfather of my 7 year old great-grandson. I feel like I should still be in my twenties, but all three of my grandchildren are in their twenties, and one is pushing thirty. I really didn’t expect to get this old, this fast! I’m not quite 70 yet, but getting close.
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Ahem, beat ya there, lady.
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Oh? I thought you were closer to 60. You look really young!
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It’s all done with mirrors.
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Mitch – what a comforting read 🙂 🙂 And I LOVE how the acorn fits in 🙂
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Me too, M.B. Love it when God does that.
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isaiah 55:40-43
hebrews 11:05
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS OPENING OF YOUR EYES AND HEALING OF YOUR HEART! 😀
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Amen, Jonathan.
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AMEN!
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Thanks for sharing, Mitch! So much of Christian maturity and sanctification involves unlearning falsehoods we didn’t realize we learned by replacing them with the Lord’s infallible truths. God bless!
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It does indeed. God bless you too, Craig.
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I’m chuckling here. I have had occasions when I thought I wasn’t expecting anything in return, then been disappointed when I didn’t get a “thank you.”
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Oh, yeah. I’ve had too many of those to count, Annie.
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Awesome post. Thanks Mitch. You reminded me of God’s promise for my life. My strength is rooted in him.
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Amen, Precious.
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That’s so well written 🙂🙌🏻
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Thank you, Akshita.
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My pleasure 🥰
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I’ve had similar experiences. It amazes me how God can talk to us so personally using signs and sinchronicities to only we would relate too. Indeed God is all around us!
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Indeed, Jane.
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Beautiful! I want to pour you another cup of coffee and chat some more. 🙂 You reminded me of Isaiah 61:3 – “and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.”
The oil of joy, the garment of praise… YOU are a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
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Thank you for the kind words, Ed.
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I love this passage. We gave an oak sapling commemorating the birth of a grandchild with this scripture written out. The parents get to watch their child and the tree grow remembering the child is a “planting” of the Lord for them to tend a few years.
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Thanks for sharing Mitch. Such a stunning photograph and great life lesson. You struck a chord many of us resonate with. I sure do. I tried to find acceptance and unconditional love in the wrong places. Now, like you, I praise God for HIS grace because I have all I need!
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So well-said, Mitch. We all do need to be reminded of unconditional love from time to time.
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True, Liz. It’s never a one-and-done, is it?
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No, it isn’t.
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Thank you for this wonderful post. Our creator is An Awesome God ❤
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He is indeed, Naya.
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Your honesty is refreshing. I find these discoveries are often like a similar shaped, edible; an onion. Many layers. May your journey continue in grace, and please keep talking…filtered and free!
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Thank you, Sherrie. You too.
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Thanks Mitch!
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Great post my friend. In times like these we all need a reminder of God’s infinitesimal love and grace. Blessings and Peace.
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Thanks, Claudia. You too.
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Um… I do not think you meant ‘infinitesimal’… ?
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You’re right I meant infinite. Thanks
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Hi Mitch,
I think about the man who even in his older years blossoms and blooms because the Lord has planted Him besides streams of living water. Growth is a life long part of sanctification.
Keep growing, brother.
Gary
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Exactly, Gary.
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Thanks for sharing your heart, Mitch. The world needs followers of Christ like you who are not afraid to be vulnerable.
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Ditto, my friend!
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ha ha nice
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Que maravilloso encuentro has tenido tú con tu interior… todo está en nuestro corazón… Dios habita en él y sólo tenemos que escucharlo en ese silencio con nosotros mismos.
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Amen, Beatriz.
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Happy to find your post.
Consider this, I read it as a child and I still cherish .. God gave us a bowl of fruits, we are required to make a salad out of it.
That’s life my friend.
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Absolutely!
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Thank you for sharing
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Page name the right thoughts
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It has stories full of suspense
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That’s beautiful ✨
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💕
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Oh the deep pain and fear of rejection! 😔 a powerful force!
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Brilliant. Thank you for that.
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Thank you, Sharean, my pleasure.
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Excellent! There are no conditions for unconditional love. As a teacher of children, I’m going to remember that! I appreciate your vulnerability,Mitch. You may be talking about your own life, but I see mine. Blessings.
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Thanks, David, you too.
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Nature
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💛
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I’m glad I read this all the way through because what I was expecting is not what I got at all lol. I was expecting a silly story from the perspective of a squirrel trying to become human 🤣. Instead you reminded me how important it is to be rooted in Christ
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Maybe sometime in the future I’ll do a story about a squirrel trying to become human. Or not. ;>)
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