Jeremiah 17: Thoughts in the Long Lost

Are you feeling the heat? 

I am. In my finances, in my life, in the amount of time I feel like I have to become something or make something of myself. I feel like there’s so much time to make up for. I’m not anywhere near where I thought I might be at this age.  

Is it my fault? Could I have done anything differently? Do I deserve it? Am I being punished? Has God abandoned me? Is there something else I should be doing? 

So many questions sometimes rise to the surface. Their goal is to discourage, to destroy, to steal, to kill. To kill Hope, to kill Faith, to kill Love within me. Life is a never ending assault on the virtues that way. These circumstances are typically what would harden the soil of my heart against the Lord. It’s in this wilderness where I, like Christ, feel I am being visited by the enemy. 

In this weekend’s readings, Jeremiah the prophet has two perspectives to offer: First, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,” and second “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord;” (Jeremiah 17:5-8). The first will be like a barren bush in the wasteland. Dry. Fruitless and leafless. Still standing, but a drain on its surroundings and what little resources are there. A nothing. 

The second will be like a tree planted by waters, standing tall in the heat though It should be dead or dying. Despite the fact that it should be bent and withering, it flourishes.

Jeremiah 17, a tree planted by waters.

These words are neither curse nor blessing to the reader. They are instruction and wisdom and help. Jeremiah is teaching that actions have consequences, and the action of turning to myself vs. turning to God will have the following consequences: turn to me, rely on myself, take more responsibility onto myself  —I will wither and become nothing. Turn to the Lord, and though I may suffer in the heat of my surroundings, I will bear so much more fruit. I will still flourish. I have nothing to fear. 

I pray for the grace to turn to God, the Father who loves me and already has a way for me. And I pray that as I rely on the promises of the Father, I will have the grace speak these truths over myself: 

I will bear so much more fruit.

I will still flourish.

I have nothing to fear.

-Martina