Gardening and Weeds

"What am I gonna do with this life?
You gave me this breath and You gave me the strength.
Every day I live to obey You.
With all of my heart. 
With all of my soul, let every breath I breathe display you, God"
- Chris Tomlin

As I was weeding the garden this week I was having an interaction time with the Creator of the Universe, my God. It all started with the question, "Why did you create weeds?".

Gardening and taking care of the yard are some of my favorite things to do. I get to spend quality time with God while I'm doing it! For the next 4 hours God continually showed me ways that weeds and gardening apply to our lives. I was amazed at what he showed me!

We all have weeds in our lives that need to be removed. It is our choice to keep them or remove them.

When we plant a garden it is our responsibility to keep the weeds from overgrowing and squelching the growth of the plants that are supposed to be growing for harvesting. If we don't pull the weeds the vegetables and fruit will not grow and produce to their full potential.

God created us to live to our full potential. That is his desire for us. He created us with a plan and purpose in this life. How are we going to reach the goal of living out His plan and purpose for us? We can start by removing the weeds that we've allowed to grow in our lives. What are those weeds? I know what some of my weeds are. Do you know yours?

Weeds can be many different things ...

• material things ... your clothes, your car, even your house, music, movies, etc.
• relationships ... co-workers, friends, acquaintances, dare I say ... a family member?
• hobbies ... cars/motorcycles, collecting items, sports, scrapbooking/crafts, etc.
• things we do ... sports, watching TV, listening to music, reading, work/career, internet/facebook, etc.
• other ... attitude towards others, self-image, gossip, unforgiveness, hard heart, tolerance of sin, etc.

Bottom line, a weed is something that keeps you from being all you can be for God and your purpose here on earth. If it keeps your relationship with God stagnant or distant then it is probably something that needs to be removed from your life.

It can be a painful and difficult process. As I was digging and pulling weeds in my garden it was getting to be tiring and painful. In the end I got 2 big blisters on my right hand from the small garden rake I was using. After spending 4 hours bending over while standing, on my knees and even sitting down, I was tired. My back was killing me and my feet and legs were hurting. I spent the evening with a heating pad on my back and my feet up. These will heal over time. When I finished weeding the entire garden, I was so pleased with the way it looked and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I was so glad I did it. It looked great!

It's the same in our lives. Removing the weeds that hinder our relationship with Christ can be painful and leave us wondering if it's worth it. Sometimes the process can be quick and simple, even pain-free. Sometimes it's a long, grueling process. I've experienced both processes in my life. I prefer the quick one. :) The long process isn't always a pleasant one. In the end it's so worth it. If you allow Jesus to walk through the process with you, you will look back and be so glad you did it.

When I was finished weeding the garden I sprinkled Preen, a weed preventer, all over the garden. I really don't want to be spending another 4 hours weeding ... it's too painful! The Preen will help with keeping the weeds away.

What are you and I doing to prevent the weeds in coming back once they've been removed?
Staying in the Word is a great preventer. Listening to God-honoring music is another way. Serving God by serving others is good too. Going to church on a regular basis works great. For some people it takes having an accountability partner to keep the weeds from coming back. Allowing God's healing Truth to penetrate our hearts is a fabulous preventer. We all need to find our own weed preventer(s).

As I was weeding I heard something move behind me. It was a deer running across the field behind me! I really like to see deer and it was a simple blessing for me to see it so close. God wants to do the same for us in our weeding process in our lives. He wants to give us those blessings along the way. It's his way of saying, "Good job. I'm so proud of you." I love it when He tosses those blessings at me.

So, what are your weeds? What will you do with them?