What are you yielding to? You get to choose.

Driving home from the store the other day, I noticed this small black looking stone on my side of the road. It was about the size of my fist, maybe a little bigger. I straddled it as I went by and realized it wasn’t a stone but a small turtle. Immediately, I slowed my car. Nostalgia set in, as I began remembering all the times my son and I would stop and help innocent turtles cross the road. With each save, we became more and more joyful. It was a fun time.

Instantly, my mind began to bounce back and forth whether to stop and help or or keep on driving. I did have a car load of groceries in my back seat. However, I yielded to the desire to rescue that poor turtle and pulled my car into the next driveway. Quickly, I made my way to the turtle, picking him up by his shell and carrying him across the road in the direction he was heading. As I placed him gently in the grass off the shoulder of the road, I felt as if he thanked me and the joy that my son and I experienced so long ago came flooding back.

Recognizing that I had yielded to this desire to help the turtle, I also realized I had been hearing this word ‘yield’ a lot lately. While training for a spiritual retreat for the last few weeks and having lots of spiritual conversations, I have been hearing phrases like; “we need to yield to the Spirit,” “do not yield to temptation,” and that just by being willing to participate in the retreat, we were “yielding to the will of God.” Often, when I experience this repetition, I know God is trying to teach me something.

Late one evening, as I drove home from the training, I slowed for an upcoming yield sign. I thought it was ironic. As I approached the intersection, I looked back to my right to check for any oncoming traffic. Noticing no cars coming, I preceded with caution. Later that night, I called my mom to give her a recap of my day. While on the phone with her, I could hear my father in the background telling someone of a ‘bumper crop that was yielded that year.”

As I hung up the phone, I thought to myself, “What is up with all this ‘yielding’?” I immediately looked up the word.

The definition of yield is; 

The word ‘yield’ is mentioned over 90 times in the Bible, mostly referring to the land bearing or yielding a crop. But Jesus talks of this yielding too in John 15:5 . It reads, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  There is a yielding that must happen when we say “YES” to Christ in our lives. Just like approaching the intersection of a yield sign, I must slow myself and give way to the One and Only. Jesus must go first, then I can proceed.

As God draws us in, we are given opportunity after opportunity to yield to the true vine, to the only One that gives us life. Are you yielding? Are you slowing down and allowing God to go first? How many times have I not yielded? How many times have I zoomed out in front, rushing ahead?

Or maybe, I’m yielding to the wrong things? Things that produce nothing in my life. When the only one thing I should yield to is the very thing that brings life to my soul and produces a crop that keeps on yielding. My prayer is that I would slow down and yield to Christ in my life. That I would allow God to go first and then, only then, will I follow.

Let us pray;

Father God, you are our True Vine. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Teach me how to yield to your Will. Show me how to remain connected to you at all times. Thank you that even when I don’t yield and even when I’m not connected to you, you never give up on me and you never stop loving me. In Jesus Name, Amen. -M

• Here’s the link to my Jesus Calling blog I wrote a few weeks ago entitled, New Beginnings.
• Be sure to pick up your copy of The Me Disease in print or digital, available on Amazon.
• Check out my calendar for upcoming events, such as First United Methodist Dinner September 9th at 6:30p and Barnes and Nobles book signing September 28th at 1pm in High Point, NC.
• Leave me a comment below because you know I love to hear from you.