The other day I was outside in my garden pulling weeds and I said to myself “the weeds are growing faster than my flowers are.”
I was frustrated.
It seemed like every time I got into my garden the weeds were there even after I had just pulled them. They were growing…well…like weeds. They were tall, the roots deep and long. And they were overtaking my flowers. If I didn’t continuously pull the weeds, my flowers wouldn’t have enough room for their roots to grow strong and deep. It got me thinking, we All have weeds in our lives trying to grow stronger and take root and if we aren’t careful, the weeds will begin to take over and there won’t be room for the good fruits to take root.
What are the weeds in your life trying to take root? Are your weeds an untamed tongue? Do you talk without thinking and hurt others or yourself? Are your weeds drugs? Do you turn to drugs to try to fill that gap in your life that can’t seem to be filled? Are your weeds anger? Do you turn to anger when you feel down or go to anger immediately to respond to situations? Are your weeds telling lies? Do you dig yourself a deeper hole as you continue to tell lie after lie? Are your weeds depression? Do you struggle to keep your head positive through the struggles of life? Are your weeds dependency? Do you depend on others to pave the way for you? Do you follow the crowd rather than making your own mark? There are countless weeds that try to weasel their way into our lives. And if we aren’t careful, if we don’t check our garden (lives) daily and pull out the weeds, soon our garden will be covered, and the weeds will begin killing what good there is in us.
The bible tells us this in Galations 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. These are the things that should be growing in us. These are the things we need to be protecting from the weeds, the bad, that will try to spring up in us if we aren’t careful. If we are trying to grow more love of others in our hearts but there’s that one person we work with who tries our patience and love, and we allow hatred to spring up towards that person instead of love, then we have allowed for that weed to kill off the good fruit that God intended to grow in us. If we aren’t careful and vigilant to keep the weeds down, the fruit will suffocate without the room for roots to take hold. If we are working to grow more faith in our lives but everything seems to be going wrong and it feels like God isn’t hearing our cries, we will allow doubt to creep, weed, its way into us and kill out what faith we have sprouting. It takes work to grow a garden. It takes work to dig the ground up, to keep the bugs away, to feed the plants, water them efficiently, and it takes work to keep the weeds out. Daily, pulling weeds. Sometimes we may get cut by the weeds we pull. They may hurt us, poke at us as we try to remove them from our garden. But they must be removed if we are to grow the good fruits. We must make room for what truly matters, what will help us to grow into a better person, what will make us happier and healthier. If we are not consistent in removing the bad from our lives, it will take root, grow tall and strong, and take over all the good.
A strong weed has the power to kill off a growing tree if not taken care of and removed.
Do not let the weeds in your life, in your heart, to take such deep roots that there is no room for healthy growth to grow. Instead, look at yourself daily and decide what matters more. Decide what needs to be removed in order to make you healthy, happy, and growing strong. Turn to God for strength. Turn to the word for guidance. The world will constantly throw weeds in our garden to trip us up and to try to strangle the good growth, make sure to protect your garden at all costs. God does not want to see us die off. He wants to see us thriving, growing towards the sun, receiving the proper food and water to grow tall and strong. Yes, it takes effort, everything that truly matters does. Choose today to weed out what doesn’t help you grow. Whether that be relationships that are toxic, habits that are ugly, sins that halt your growth. Repent today, ask God to forgive you and ask Him to help you to see what shouldn’t be there and ask Him to give you the strength to remove it before it kills the good in you. He will. He cares.
He gives us Roots so we can Fly. Roots and Wings.
