Weeds, Weeds and More Weeds!

I love spring time!  I love to watch the leaves slowly forming on the trees, the flowers peeking their heads out from the ground and the birds as they busily fly around collecting twigs and straw for their nests.  I never really appreciated spring until I moved to West Michigan and lived through a cold, drab winter.  It seemed to me after that first winter that the trees were greener, the flowers brighter and the birds’ songs more melodic.

But there is one thing about spring that I don’t find so pleasant - the weeds in my flower beds! 

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1286668

I love planting flowers but find weeding to be low on my list of priorities.  And because it’s low, I confess I have a few flower beds that have been long neglected. 

Knowing this I decided the other day that I needed to be disciplined and get out there and weed those beds.  Of course, I didn’t pick the best time of day to do it – two in the afternoon when the sun was the hottest.  Not so smart! 

I put on my gardening gloves; made sure I had a long enough shirt on so that I wouldn’t have the “plumber look” going on for my neighbors and got to work.  Wow! Was there a lot of weeds and because it had been so long since I had weeded, they had worked their way right into the middle of my plants.  Some of the plants I actually had to dig up so that I could pull out the weeds from them.

It was tedious, exhausting work but I finally finished and was amazed at how much better it looked.  Of course that was only one flower bed and I have about a thousand to go!

 

As I was weeding I couldn’t help but think about how easy it is to let sin creep into my life, just like those weeds crept into my garden.  How easy sin worms its way in and before I know it, I’ve been invaded! This infiltration changes everything; what I believe, how I think and what I do.  

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/994542

One of those invasive weeds in my life was the need to be in control.  It had so captured my heart that I didn’t even see the damage it was causing in my life. 


It was devastating my marriage, hurting my children and hindering my relationship with God.  It wasn't until I began to understand how my need for control was hurting me and the people I loved, that I was able to begin to surrender to God's weeding in my life.  It was a slow and painful process of allowing God to show me what it looked like to TRUST Him and relinquish control.  And I have to admit that it’s one of those areas in my life that will constantly need to be weeded.  It’s not a onetime deal for me. 

God’s unfailing love makes this possible in my life and in yours!

Look at what Psalm 51:1-2 (NLT) says, “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.  Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.  Wash me clean from my guilt.  Purify me from my sin.  For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.”

David found forgiveness, after committing adultery and murder, in God’s unfailing love and so can we!

What do you need to have weeded from your life?  What is holding you back from having a rich and intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father?

Relinquish your hold, surrender to the weeding work of your Savior and become a well tilled garden ready for Him to use.