The Flower Garden
I have this manicured patch of weeds in my front yard!
A green thumb I definitely do not have. Gardening is one of those things that I consider work way more than relaxation. I think it goes back to my childhood. Living in rural East Texas, many folks have a garden each year. For us, it was a primary source of our annual groceries. What we did not eat fresh was often canned or frozen to be eaten later. Having three boys and one girl under the roof required alot of food, particularly as we hit our teen years! (I never knew quite how much until my kids have begun to devour everything edible!)
Because we had a large family, that meant we needed a large garden. Each year we planted somewhere around a 1/2 acre and my grandfather planted well over an acre. Thats alot of vegetables. I remember when I was small, my grandfather had an old mule, Jack. Each spring he would hook Jack up to his plow and spend all day Saturday going up and down the field, tearing up the soil and what was presently grown there. Later he upgraded to a rototiller after Jack passed.
Now vegetables are good (I used to not thing so.) but require alot of work, not so much for the vegetables but for the soil in which they grow. You have to break it up, clean it up, fertilize it, clean it again, break it again, make rows, plant seed, water, clean it, water, clean it, water, clean it and so forth for several months before you can reap your harvest.
Cleaning the soil was the part I hated. Cleaning the soil, basically meant pulling weeds. I have concluded nothing grows better in freshly turned soil, be it in east Texas or Northwest Washington than weeds. Man how I hated pulling weeds as a kid, and still do today.
Now my aversion to pulling weeds has posed a great problem for me. I moved into my house last December and it had this lovely patch of dirt that the previous person had been grooming for a flower bed. I thought how wonderful it would be to have those flowers in my yard. So as this year as developed, I realized as each passing day, the flowers werent there and the weeds were growing. Only a few at first, so I did not stress, but over time, it has become this lush green, ugly weed infested patch of dirt!
S
o yesterday, I got out there and started pulling weeds, and then I hired one of my kids to help, then I hired another, and then another! And low and behold it only took 7 hours with us pulling weeds to clear a patch of dirt 3 feet wide by about 30 feet long. I filled up my yard wast bin (55 gallon) over half full with weeds! What a sense of accomplishment. Cleaning the weeds and then turning the soil. It looked great. I even got so bold as to enlist the help of a neighbor to add a few plants.
However, when I awoke this morning and wanted to go bask in the glory of my accomplishment, I was shocked. Weeds! More weeds! They were poping up throughout. Argh!!!
Then as He often does, God challenged me. You see, that patch of dirt out front is alot like my life, and yours. Left unattended weeds will take root and grow. And the longer we neglect pulling the weeds the more will grow and they will spread. And when we do invest in cleaning them up, we can not sit back and think it is going to be pretty. No, it takes continual work. Weeds have a nack of always trying to spring up. Even when it looks like they may all be gone, there is always something more just under the surface that needs addressing.
Well as usual, I was challenged and boy did I find some weed patches. How about you? How is your garden today?
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Hebrews 2:1-3 1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
