WEEDS!
I hate pulling weeds!
My parents and I live at the same address where they have their side and I mine. My mom manages the front yard and her side of the house while I’m supposed to take care of my side.
I do mow the lawn weekly while Mom manages the landscape in front of our house. We always get compliments about how nice the yard looks. I always say, “It’s all mom’s doing.” Daily she tends to all the different plants and keeps the flower beds free of any unwanted growth making it beautiful. I swear she has a green thumb because anything she touches grows.
The other day I decided to take a stroll around the house and check out the surroundings. The front has many flowers, plants and trees that are blooming and growing. Towards the back, Mom has a garden filled with new vegetable plants that are sprouting up from the ground. All the berry bushes are loaded with baby berries and it looks like we might have a bumper crop this year.
As I continue my walk through the back yard, I approach my side of the house and turn the corner. AACCKK! I was met with a totally different scene that screamed out to me, “HELP!”
Weeds! Oh my gosh, who knew those green obnoxious plants can get big so fast? This is when my inner self says, “Suck it up, buttercup. Go get the wheel barrel and start pulling weeds!”
Uhg. The flower beds are so overgrown with grass, dandelions, and some other stuff that when you touch it the seeds fly off and spread. Good grief, what a pain in the patootie. I know that I need to take care of this because if I don’t then the weeds will choke out the life of the flowers and plants I have in the ground.
So, I got down to business. I put my garden gloves on, retrieved the hoe and the wheel barrel. I then started breaking up the ground pulling up the unwanted pesky plants. The small baby weeds came out with ease, but the bigger ones took more of an effort to pull out causing some of them to brake off at the base leaving roots in the ground to grow again.
Why did I let it get out of control?
This job is not for the weak and the weary. I was hot, sweaty, dirty, thirsty and my hands hurt from all the pulling I had done.
I think I would rather eat worms than do this!
The stupid weeds got me thinking about my own life as a flower bed of family, friends, blessings, joy, peace, and much more. But when the weeds like bad habits, poor decisions, toxic people, and bad relationships creep into my life, it starts to choke out the beautiful gifts and blessings that God has planted in me.
As my mom tends to her garden and yard daily, I too need to tend to my life flower bed. If I do not heed God’s word and wisdom then life weeds will subtlety and sneakily take root and before I know it, BAM! I have a mess, just like the flower bed on my side of the house.
Just like I used the garden gloves, the hoe, and a wheel barrel to get rid of the weeds, I read my bible, pray, and ask for protection doing a daily cleaning of the flower garden in my life. Situations throughout my day such as anger, unforgiveness, or being too busy for things that matter need to be removed. Just like the baby weeds, the unhealthy stuff can easily be extracted from my life by changing how I think by keeping my thoughts on excellent and praiseworthy things. Tempering my emotions before I say something that I can’t snatch back. Giving grace and forgiveness to those who I think don’t deserve it. How could I not since God has forgiven me and showered me with grace a gazillion times.
If I allow these life weeds to grow, then the destructive habits and poor decisions will take root and leave less room for me to enjoy the beautiful blessings in my life. Resentment can set in; hatred and anger will squelch out the joy and peace causing the distance between God and I to widen into a chasm. I then become a miserable person struggling to live in this world.
Trust me, you don’t want that. The feeling of being lonely and lost is painful.
There have been times when I tried to extract the destructive parts out of my life on my own, but all I ended up doing was getting rid of the exposed problem. The roots remained deep in my life still attached ready to grow again like when I pulled the weeds and they broke off at the base leaving the roots to grow another plant.
It wasn’t until I heeded God’s wisdom and allowed Him to intervene so He could start cleaning up the mess pulling out the weeds leaving nothing behind. It is a painful process to go through but if I did’t get the whole unwanted plant with the roots out of my life it would have grown back and create more problems hindering my relationship with the Lord.
So, I tend to these pesky bad things in my life right away so that they are easy to get rid of.
How many times have I been through this process? Well, it’s hard for me to count, but I like to say that I am wiser in my older age and can say that I am redeemed because God lives in my life watering all the beautiful flowers and plants that thrive in me.
I am blessed. I have a wonderful family, friends, job, talents, possessions, but most of all I have an awesome close relationship with the Lord that I don’t ever want to lose again. So, daily I will tend to my life flower bed and pull the pesky little weeds out before they grow into unmanageable problems in my life.
How is your flower bed? Have you and the Lord cleaned out the weeds with the roots attached? Make it a priority in your life daily to keep your heart, soul, and mind healthy.
Gwen
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. NIV
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