06/01/12

 

We have been pulling weeds today.

In our yard, that is a huge feat.  We have almost 3 acres and lots of beds around the house.  With school and work they have become overrun with weeds and it was time to get out there and clean it up.

The kids were in the front beds and I was on the side/back bed of the house.  

I must admit, when I began I was quite overwhelmed with what lay before me.  Then, I realized it was just something I had to start wherever and keep moving, knowing that the more I pulled the more the bed would be clean.

As I was working, I couldn't help but relate it to my Christian life.  The weeds are the sin.  Just like our beds were overrun with weeds because they had been neglected with us being so busy, so can our Christian walk become crowded and stagnant because of the weeds of sin growing among us when we become "too busy" for the Lord.  We forget our daily pruning and nurturing of our spiritual soil by getting the nourishment from God's Word.

Some of the weeds I pulled were easy to get up... especially with the rain we have had.  Others were quite difficult and it hurt my fingers as I continued to pull.  Still others I had to get the shovel and force them to come out of that ground.

Isn't that just what God does in our lives?  He sees it is time for us to come back to Him and become the beautiful flower garden He created us to be.  The weeds of sin overtake us and He is the Master Gardner helping us get out those sins.  The ground can't do it by itself, and neither can we.  We are imperfect and we need the Savior's help.  Sometimes the weeds of sin can be easy for the Lord to remove.  Others are so deeply rooted He has to take his "shovel" with love and dig deeper into us until we finally release that horrid root.  That digging is hard... it causes pain.... but God is there holding the shovel and has not left us.  He knows it is best for us.

Something else was interesting to me as I pulled those weeds.  A spider had built a web in the tree nearby where I was pulling.  I didn't realize it was there until I was right up on it.  Satan is like that... He gets his web built and we are caught before we know it.  As I continued to pull the weeds, I looked up and saw that spider taking down its web!  I have never before seen a spider do that... I just thought they always abandoned them and moved on.  This spider actually took apart the entire web and then disappeared.  

Made me think of how Satan has to move away once we let the Master Gardner come in and get rid of the weeds of sin in our lives that have trapped us.

I shared my analogy with the kids and they brought up some great thoughts, too.

Mikayla said that having to clean out the weeds is like the consequences of our sin... they are hard, and back-breaking but it is a consequence of having them there.

When I jokingly said I would like to have a talk with Adam and Eve about all of those weeds, Wesley said that even if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned he bet that someone else would have done the same because we are such weak creatures.  

So profound for my 12 year old thinkers.

I am normally an inside person... I don't do well with gardens and I am not the best at keeping plants alive.  However, it was cathartic to get out there and pull those weeds and be reminded that God is doing the same in my life.

I was thankful for the opportunity to learn another lesson from God's in His Creation just by experiencing it with Him.