Let the Land Rest and Lie Fallow
Dear Friends
Unprecedented...the catchphrase of 2020 to explain the year we never saw coming. And I don’t know why the end of 2020 should have caught me by surprise but it did. Once again the Holy Spirit blows where He wills.
We have been living into Greenhouse Collective for a few years now, organically and a bit under the radar. In December, we were about to launch an online platform to help others develop and create their own local greenhouse communities. There were strategic meetings, mapped out plans, teachings and content notes created, and many other details all in motion.
Yet, I felt uneasy. I had the sense that something was coming, a change, a shift different than what we were planning. But I didn’t have clarity so I just continued doing what I was doing. Literally the week we were finalizing everything and preparing to “launch,” I felt the overwhelming conviction from the Holy Spirit to pause, rest, and make room. I almost felt like Kevin Costner in the movie “Field of Dreams” when he heard, “Build it and He will come.” No corn fields, though.
Nothing made sense in the natural. So, I brought all my Holy Spirit stirrings and concerns to Chris. We had one of those wrestling conversations bringing to light all the reasons why this didn’t make sense. We don't want to stop and restart, we need to keep our commitments, we are responsible for people, etc. Yet, I felt so strongly that I heard the still small voice say “Trust him and pause.”
After more prayer, conversations, and discernment with our team, we decided to fully pause. Personally, I felt like the Lord was inviting me to release what I was holding onto to make room for him to move in new ways. And as soon as we made the decision to pause, there was an overwhelming peace among our entire team. Once we stepped out into obedience then came confirmation.
A few days after we made the decision, a trusted prayer warrior friend called me out of the blue saying she had been sitting on a word that she had gotten in prayer for me: “You need to pause. Not quit, just pause. The Lord wants you to come and be with him in a deeper way.“ Just as your children are tangible fruits of an intimate time between you and your husband, your next season of fruitfulness in the kingdom will be born from the intimate times between you and the Lord. You will see the tangible fruit. Trust the process.”
Then my spiritual director reminded me of a scripture and a theme that I received at the beginning of COVID shutdowns: “Let the land lie fallow”
“But let the land rest and lie fallow during the seventh year, and let the poor among the people harvest any volunteer crop that may come up; leave the rest for the animals to enjoy. The same rule applies to your vineyards and your olive groves.”
Exodus 23:11
For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
Leviticus 25:3 & 4
What does fallow mean? Fallow ground, or fallow soil, is simply ground or soil which has been left unplanted for a period of time. In other words, fallow land is land left to rest, regenerate, pause. It allows the soil of a field to replenish nutrients.
One of the things that was discussed when Chris and I were figuring all of this out was that if I pause in this next season, was there a dream that I still wanted to cultivate. We were going round and round in the conversation, and finally I bursted out in tears - I didn’t have a dream, not one darn dream was stirring in my heart. When I relayed the conversation to my spiritual director he simply replied - you can’t dream because your nutrients are stripped. I quickly replied back, “I don't feel exhausted.” And he said that I was like a phone battery. I was so used to being at 15% with the red light blaring so when I am up to 25% charged, I am raring to go.
A few days later, I left for my personal 4 day silent retreat and what became very evident is that the Lord isn’t putting me in time-out to discipline me. He is extending an invitation to me to spend time with him and restore me and my family to fullness. (Hosea 2:14-15)
So what does this mean for Greenhouse Collective, all that we have been discerning and building and for all of you who have been entering into your own Greenhouses with the help of our emails, website, social media, etc? And what about all of you who have directly asked us for more resources, guidance, and tools? Our team and cohorts have had countless meetings around “What can we do to provide for the need that we see? What can we offer?” We never would have thought all these years would have led to this. It doesn’t make sense in the world’s eyes to build momentum and then pump the brakes. But God has a funny way of throwing the rule book out the window.
So for now we will continue to live into our own Greenhouse processes and local community that we have built here in Pensacola, but in obedience to the Spirit, we will be pausing all external Greenhouse Collective initiatives and resources: our shop, our social media, “In the Greenhouse” emails, the platform we have been building, etc.
Greenhouse has always been about creating safe and nurturing spaces for people to live a full life in Christ. During this time of pause for Greenhouse Collective, we encourage you to connect with people in your local community and be that safe and nurturing space for one another. Intentional communion with God lived out in the context of an intentional community (or what Chris calls “Big Family”) is a great way to enter into the feast that God has for our lives. Thank you for joining us on this Greenhouse journey. We don’t know when God will reveal next steps for Greenhouse but we do know that now is the time to pause, rest, and receive.