Trees sprung up around my treasured bulbs I put in. The weeds around the flooded house soon became an oasis for birds and wildlife. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.” It was not Chinese Holly, a wall or even a fortress to protect my home……I began to *really* trust in the Lord. There was only one hedge of protection I needed. After about 7-8 years of cultivating thorny protection, I realized that I was out of balance. We had been SO deceived about “the flooded house” (as people in our town called it) that I cultivated a lot of resentment, jealousy and anger in my heart….lots of thorns on this holly of mine.įINALLY. It was also challenging to “bloom where I was planted”….I really didn’t want to be where God had me. I was absolutely determined to find protection. I dreamed of retaining walls, digging out river ways and city water management plans. I lived for many years trying to protect my family and my precious things, never quite setting roots. I knew that a flood *could* happen, and realistically, it would destroy everything in it’s path (which it did). I lived many years trying to develop an imaginary hedge of protection for my home. We lose beauty and our gardens become fruitless. We allow our hedges of protection to become overgrown and uncultivated….hardened and useless. In an effort to protect ourselves, we live in our own fear of the thorn.
It is easy to become like a protective hedge. Uncultivated, the hedge had moved beyond a beautiful garden proection, into a spirit of overwhelming, thorny ugliness. The hedge had been so severe and thorny, there was no delightful entrance to the house. The first thing I did after we brought the house, was chainsaw the overgrown thorny beast-of-a-hedge down to the ground. I enjoy the fruits of cultivation….even if it’s just a hedge. There is a beautiful purpose of a protective hedge, but even a hedge needs to be cultivated. The hedge had become an uneffective eye soar to the front of the house. The hedge was so fiercely overgrown and had hardened into a large stump with thorns. My first experience with Chinese Holly was when we bought our first home. A lot of houses during the 40’s and 50’s were built, using this “beautiful” thorny beast as a hedge of protection around the home. Chinese Holly will literally reach out and attack you by merely looking at it. This holly is incredibly thorny and fruitless. I used to wonder why anyone in their right mind would plant a Chinese Holly.
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