Are You a Prickly Pear?
For many years we traveled to the Texas hill country to gather with family and hunt. This area of Texas is so vastly different than the rural area we live in, outside the city of Houston. The only ‘hills’ we have in or around Houston are highway overpasses! About the only greenery in the hill country comes from live oak trees, cedar trees and cactus…a LOT of cactus. There are different varieties, but mostly, everywhere you look, you’ll see paddle cactus, sometimes called prickly pear cactus. The thorns on these plants can go right through the sole of your shoe if you’re not careful where you’re stepping. For most of the year, these ever-multiplying, ominous succulents aren’t much to look at, but under right conditions, they bloom in the spring time and add some color to the usual drab, rocky landscape.
Sometimes in life we can be a little ‘prickly’ ourselves, whether it’s because we’ve been hurt or it’s just our nature. Pastor has said for years, “hurtin’ people hurt people.” When we’ve been hurt, it’s a defense mechanism to protect ourselves from getting hurt again, so we develop this prickly outer shell that keeps others at bay. In doing so, we can allow bitterness to take root, which may end up building a barrier between us and God.
If you’ve always been a prickly pear and you think it’s just who you are, or you’re that way because your mom or dad was a prickly pear, YOU’RE WRONG. God didn’t create you that way; something triggered that attribute, but you don’t have to accept it anymore. We do not have to be cursed with disease or unattractive attributes just because our parents or grandparents were. These are called generational curses. Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” We have the power to break that cycle of abuse…the pain and fear we inflict upon ourselves because we think we’re doomed to follow in our parents’ footsteps. Nay I say unto thee!! You can claim the promise in Ez. 18 for yourself…shout it from the rooftops that you will NOT be in bondage to that curse any longer!
When we get revelation that our prickly behavior is not working out, it will be like spring time for the cactus. God can take those hurtful thorns and replace them with beautiful flowers. Isaiah 61:3 says God gives beauty for ashes, and although this verse may be more about mourning, I think we can apply it here. To me it evokes strength, the emerging of something new and beautiful out of something that was ugly. It’s God adding some color to the old drab and rocky landscape of our hearts.