This morning, it's overcast and cloudy. Very cool outside compared to what it has been in the past few weeks. So, I decided it was a good morning to get out and pull some weeds. I started in my back yard and started with some enormous weeds I had back there. I honestly have one weed that looks like a beanstalk and it's taller than I am. I'm still chopping that one down. The other little weeds that I started on are amazingly hearty. These weeds have managed to infiltrate the lawn and choke out all grass around it. Once the weeds were pulled, there was literally only soil left in those areas. And this got me thinking (as yard work tends to do) about the lessons that weeds can teach us.
Recently, I attended a Beth Moore Simulcast. Her text was on Luke 8, the parable of the sower. When it says that some seed fell and sprouted up quickly but was choked out by the weeds, that really hit home for me and was illustrated vividly this morning in my yard. Jesus explains that the weeds are the worries of life, anxiety, stress, busyness. I combat these mental and emotional weeds all the time, fighting them back with scripture and prayer. But, were I to just let those worries and anxiety take over, no real plants could grow. I would bear no fruit. Then I took the metaphor a step further. The rain.. the rain (God's word, the holy spirit, you choose which works for you) came down and soaked the soil and made it so much easier to pull out those weeds by the roots. What is left? Soil. Good Soil. Soil that can be sown into. It's been tilled by the ripping up of the roots of weeds and can now be used to plant a harvest.
I also noticed that the weeds don't tend to sprout up right in the middle of my yard. They encroach they sneak in from the sides, around the edges. They're easy for me to ignore, because after all the middle of the yard looks pretty good. There are some brown spots I'm working on getting green again, but for the most part, it's pretty healthy. But, if I look up, I see the weeds all around the edges, slowly gaining ground. The enemy is very sneaky, very patient, and tenacious. Guard your heart. Do not fret about this life.
Luke 8:14-15 And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience.
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