Want to Flourish? Start to Nourish

* This week I am excited to share with you a guest blog post I wrote for Agape Life Church.

My daughter just recently got a new batch of plants—all shapes and sizes. She’s careful to nourish them each day: give them just what they need to grow and reach their optimum health. The way she transports them to a sunny spot, waters accordingly, and researches about each specific plant shows her care for her plants. And it’s not just a chance that her plants are flourishing it is because she does the necessary daily work of “nourishing”. Oh that we would pour such care into our own spiritual life! Our spirits long to be in the sunny presence of God, to breathe Him in each hour of every day, to grow healthy and strong putting our roots down deep into the soil of His Word.

To be nourished means “to be provided with everything necessary for growth, health, and good condition”. Anything that is nourished will naturally flourish– it’s a law whether it applies to plants, mankind, or our spiritual lives. (And the good news about a flourishing spiritual life it also impacts your mind, body and any situations that come your way!) I don’t know about you, but I’d love a year of flourishing! To flourish is “to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, rapidly and successfully, reaching new heights especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment”. Doesn’t that sound like a good deal? No, not another year of barely holding on, barely getting by or being rocked by the world’s circumstances. We’ve had our fill of that! But it is time to move on into flourishing.

The secret to flourishing is being nourished by our loving Savior day after day. This nourishing happens in the form of: opening our Bibles and letting our roots grow deep (check out Agape’s One Year Bible Reading Plan https://www.agapelife.org/abide-365/ ), soaking in the presence of Jesus each day… spending time in His presence (Psalm 34:8), guarding our thoughts and setting our minds on the pure, good and lovely (Philippians 4:8), changing our focus from the world and it’s death, dying and decay and instead placing it on the Savior of our souls, His faithfulness, and what He has done and what He is doing (2 Corinthians 4:18). Nourishment also comes by gathering together for encouragement in church community, church services, and the encouragement of Christian friendships (Hebrews 10:25).

When we become nourished in these ways our roots go down deep (Colossians 2:7) and we become like a tree planted by rivers of water (Psalm 1:3). I’ve seen trees next to a river and my, are they flourishing! This is God’s will for each of us—not just a barely getting by or holding on lifestyle—but a thriving, blooming, fruit-bearing life! (John 10:10) Yes, friends, I bless you with a year of being spiritually nourished so you can flourish in every way! Be blessed in Jesus Name!

Until next time,

PS. Here’s some pictures of our new addition completed! In my previous post https://melanietalevski.com/2022/01/15/22-things-im-looking-forward-to-in-2022/ I featured a few of the “in progress” photos of our addition. Here’s the final product! And, as you can see, it’s a peaceful and sunny habitat for plants as well. Be nourished & flourished this next week. ❤️