IS GOD SPEAKING? ABOUT THE WEEDS

I posted back in February about some brownies I baked here and how God often speaks to me in every day occurrences I am involved in.

Last spring we decided to plant vinca minor in a fairly large section of our back yard. We have a very large back yard and felt this would make it a little easier for Mickey not to have quite so much mowing. The area where we planted the vinca had been bermuda grass. Mickey rototilled it and put down chemicals to try and kill out the bermuda. All last summer and fall I worked very hard pulling up the bermuda grass that kept coming up amidst the vinca plants.

This spring, when it was time to weed, I was having some back problems and was not up to weeding. Mickey assured me, "It's okay, the vinca will choke out the bermuda." I did not agree with him but was hoping he might be right since I could not do the weeding. Let the tell you........the bermuda grass is so thick and tall that you would hardly know there was any vinca planted there!

Yesterday we had a very nice, slow, gentle 2" rain. What a blessing since we have been having no rain and 104-105 degree temperatures. Also, since our temperature was not going to be in the 100's today I decided to begin to tackle weeding the vinca.

One of the reasons I don't mind weeding is because I have always been aware of God showing me, as I weeded, what a similarity there is between weeds and sin in our lives. The hours I spend weeding are kind of like a spiritual lesson about sin vs. God. About how it's our choice whether we are going to give in to the sin (weeds) or whether we are going to fight the good fight and do what ever and how ever it may take to uproot and get rid of sin in our lives. This is a necessary step so the new life that God has planted within us can not only grow but flourish.

This is not a new thought to me and I am just reminded of it every time I weed. Today I realized something even deeper on the Spiritual level. The thing I was noticing this time, since the bermuda had been given the opportunity to grow as it pleased, was that the bermuda runners were literally wrapped around the vinca runners. In a lot of instances when I pulled up the bermuda I also pulled up the precious vinca runners. So not only does the vinca (good) not choke out the weeds (sin) but the vinca (good) actually gets so entwined with the weeds (sin) that the bad cannot be pulled without harming some of the good. Thus setting us back some in our walk with our Lord. Jesus himself spoke of something similar when He spoke of the wheat and the tares.

"But while man slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?" Matthew 13:25-27

I'm aware I'm taking a little liberty with these verses over the example of Christians being sown among non-believers but I think it can be applied here. We all have weeds (sin) of our former lives and from our fallen nature. Believing in Jesus as Savior and surrendering your heart and life into His hands as Lord does not instantly get rid of the sin (weeds) in our soul (soil). That is something that we have to work at constantly. It is a never ending job and we will never be completely free of the struggle until we are given a new body and enter Heaven.

The main point to me is.......I can be vigilant and pull up every sin (weed) as they begin to appear and be making continual progress in my walk with my Jesus. Or, I can hope sin will automatically be choked out by the new life. Or I can try and ignore those sins (weeds) and allow them to get all tangled up in my new life and actually harm the progress I've made. I choose to be diligent in taking care of the little sins and not allow them to cause me much harm and damage later.

How about you? Have you been weeding on a continual basis?

Added later: I wrote this post yesterday and did not get it onto my blog. Today, as I went out to weed some more, the Lord showed me yet something else. Mickey came out this morning and began helping me with the weeding job. Isn't that just what God does.......when we begin to work on those areas of our lives that need some weeding, or even if we are busy watering the plants that are growing well......God always sends in just the right person or thing to help us!!!!! It may be a phone call, just when you needed it. It may be that He has moved upon someone else to post just the post you needed for this very moment or day. It may be the person who stops to just say "hi". But God does, and always will, send just the help we need when we are truly looking to Him to do the right thing.

Many of you have been that encouragement to me and I thank God for you!