by Mason Rutledge, President

This spring I planted four baby boxwoods to build up the backyard bed blown out by our dog.

Through the heat of this year’s summer, I have been devoted to watering this impending hedge. I’m working the dirt, ensuring that these beginning bushes blossom. Fledgling, I protect them by investing in them.

Extreme heat is not good for a boxwood. For example, you should not trim them on an extremely hot day. It is damaging.

While this season has been very hot, I’m not focusing on the risk, but rather the right input.

In a market full of fear, we work to eliminate the risks, rather than increase the inputs. We focus on the challenges, the threats. We worry over the wayward world. Circling the wagons, the thought is, “How do I protect?”

Joy is planted in us. It is there. God has put it in our soul. There is a stableness.

That joy can certainly die on the vine. It certainly be squelched by society. It is not assured that it will blossom. The is a risk and it has died in many.

Yet, we are assured that the joy God has given you can not be nullified, if it is being nurtured. The key is not risk reduction but rather consistent investment.

Certainly don’t give into the threats, but don’t focus on them. Nurture the joy given by God and you can be most confident that it will thrive, growing strong, taking over every bit of your life, forming a hedge.

Get out of your head. Step out of fear. Yield to Him. This investment is an exercise of trust.

My fledgling hedge is going to thrive. I’m doing the right work.

How much more should you be assured of God’s provision of joy as we do the right work.

Joy beats fear everyday.