As I mentioned last week our flower beds are full of dandelions and thistle. I don’t know why. We’ve had the beds cleared out and sprayed with commercial-grade weed killer by a landscaping company, and yet they still keep coming. I get quite annoyed and discouraged by it all. Gardening isn’t my most favorite activity (though I am trying this year to be more positive about it, seriously, I am!), and it’s just annoying to have to keep pulling up the same dumb weeds over and over again. This got me thinking. Yes, gardening does provide a lot of time for thinking–you know, while telling your son to stop dumping dirt onto his sister’s head. How similar is gardening and weeding to our spiritual lives?
Weeds would represent sin. Sin can easily take over and seems to thrive when we’re going through a trial. Just like my weeds last summer thrived during our drought-like weather. Some sins can be so rooted in our lives it takes some major prayer, digging and just plain painful yanking to get the sin out. Some sins are easier to get rid of than others and once pulled don’t come back. But, there are those pesky ones (like thistle and dandelions) which just keep coming back, and we have to keep pulling them out and dousing them with weed killer (prayer, Scripture reading, etc).
As I was yanking out the weeds in my flower beds I was thinking about what sins I continuously deal? Which ones am I seeming to always fight? Which ones have I pulled out and no longer deal with? Which ones are taking major weed killer to get rid of? I found myself praying and asking the Lord to reveal these things to me–to show me honestly and openly the areas in my life I need some major weed control. What are some of the weeds that keep coming back in your life? What are you doing to get rid of them?
Ponderings from a Pastor's Wife 