My friend, Karen, has beautiful flower gardens. Some of the plants are left over from the previous owners, their beds outlined with stones etched with words and dates from times gone, almost like tombstones separating the past from the present. The beds are sheltered in part by huge trees that, when shedding their leaves, leave them blanketed in warmth for the winter.

I took the boys over to help her uncover the new life emerging from the ground. They gathered their rakes and blowers and began to work to uncover what winter had sheltered. Soon, the dry, brown carpet was replaced by the greens, yellows, and purples of spring. The boys took tarp after tarp of dead foliage to the woods, and were soon worn out from their efforts.

Karen had already removed some of the leaves from one of the beds, but after using the leaf blower in that area, a whole row of stems appeared. At first, they were pressed down as if they were still napping. The tops were green, and the bottoms were a vibrant yellow.

When Karen saw them, she laughed and said that she had cleaned out part of that bed already but, “I didn’t even know they were under there!”

Once they were in the sunshine for a while, they sprang up tall and joyous! Their blanket of oppression was gone, and they were able to stand strong and absorb the sun.

Have you ever felt that way spiritually? Your whole life was spent under a blanket of legalism, and the truth longed to be uncovered. Tombstones from the past kept you locked into a narrow bed of tradition, while you knew there was something more.

People say that deconstructing is a bad thing, that it means that you have no faith and that you were never saved at all. They say this because they themselves are stuck in a revolving door of man made religion, and don’t know who Jesus really is. They only know what they’ve been told.

But when you take away the oppression, something beautiful happens. There’s a freedom you’ve never known. The true colors of Christ shine radiantly from your life. You’re able to rise up, stand, and absorb the Son.

You’ll have experiences and feel love like you’ve never experienced before.

And each time you have some of those moments, you’ll look in amazement and say, “I didn’t even know they were under there!”.