Back in January, I planned my garden to the “t”. I plotted out the spacing, ordered the seeds, tilled the earth, and removed all the weeds in preparation for squash, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes and-oh-so-much-more.
Although the bunnies decimated the broccoli and a couple of tomato plants, things seemed to be right on track. The rain came, the seedlings grew and soon, I had lettuce on my table. All of the work, the planning, and the plotting brought about the fruits of my labor.
But, like a bad habit-the weeds returned. (You can see them in the upper left hand corner.) Each year, I look for solutions to stop these invasive, icky weeds. Biceps and I will spend hours pulling them up by the roots, and a few weeks later-we are right back where we started. There’s just no easy, non-toxic way to organically rid my garden of weeds once and for all.
It got me thinking about my own heart and my own weeds. I carefully pull up the weeds (sin) by the roots in my own life and for a few weeks, my garden (my life) is free from my bad habits. I even have a few victories-much like my lettuce, there is a harvest for my labor. I see myself respond to a situation with a godly attitude, I am more patient, I am kind when I don’t feel like it. I am so proud of myself. (ironic, isn’t it?).
But then, I’m in Wal-mart. (Almost enough said there.)
And that lady with the four screaming kids stops in the middle of the gosh darn aisle and takes FOREVER picking out a bar-b-que sauce. And I say all sorts of things to her in my head-as I smile, move her cart out of my way, and in total, undeniable frustration, power-walk towards the vinegar.
I don’t think about the fact that she’s probably worn out and taking forever looking for bar-b-que sauce because her mind is overly distracted by her four screaming kids. And that a kind word from me would have possibly made her day-rather than my obviously fake smile. But, I don’t care about that. She just cost me 20 seconds in that aisle. What’s next?! A minute lost trying to get around her again in the spice aisle? Why yes, as a matter of fact.
By the time I leave Wal-mart, I’ve encountered her exactly four times. And each time, my blood pressure rises as I increasingly reach the point where I want to yell at her, “DON’T YOU REALIZE THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS STORE TRYING TO SHOP?!!!!”. But, I don’t. I smile that fake smile again, move around her and mumble something under my breath her youngest hears but doesn’t understand-thank goodness I speak German when needed.
Icky, gross weeds. They’re still there in my life.
As I’m loading my groceries into my sweet ride, I see her barely making it through the automatic doors with all four kids intact. She hangs her head, sighs and heads through the obstacle course towards her car. I smile once again as she passes me and she sees the church sticker on my car. She tells me we go to the same church and that she gave her life to Christ at that church.
Ouch. Double ouch. Triple, icky weeds ouch.
I may have a brand new garden, but those icky weeds need to be consistently pulled. There’s no easy way to do it. Each time, there are less and less weeds-but they’re never fully gone. They are still there, trying to choke out the harvest. My job is to continue to pull them up, one by one, until my Maker completely removes them from my life and I am with Him.
Praise the Lord my garden in heaven is going to be awesome and weed-free.
