I hate gardening. I know that some people find it to be peaceful and relazing, almost Zen-like, but I can't stand it. To me, it's the worst possible way to spend time. Mainly it's because I simply don't know how to do it. Everything I plant seems to laugh at me and die. The grass in my yard is patchy and brown. I'm a busy person so it grows for to long before I cut it and when I do, it clogs up the mower and just ticks me off. So I just stop mowing and come back a week later and half the yard is up to my shins and the other half requires a nicely sharpened machette to slice through it. I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a green thumb.
I have this little 8x12 section in the front of my house that would be the perfect place to put a water feature or a flower garden or something to that effect. It would add so much curb appeal to my house but instead, it makes things look as if i'm running some sort of slum apartment building.
For the past 2 weeks, i've been watching as the weeds slowly overtake this little patch of heaven as it begins to grow so wildly that it is now running over the side of the retaining wall off of the side-walk. I know that 2 weeks ago I should have started tending to it but i've been busy with work and church and anything else that I can involve myself in so that I don't have to take care of this jungle.
But sitting on my porch, reading a good book I might add, it simply got to me and I had to do something about it. Since I didn't have a large enough blow-torch to nuke it all in one fell swoop, I had to get down in the dirt and one-by-one extract all the pesky weeds. Grabbing them by the roots(cause at least I know to do it that way) I pulled the weeds out of the area and began returning it to the way it was before they started creeping in. It was a daunting task that even thought I complained about how I could be better spending my time reading or listening to music or watching a documentary, it really only took a short while to remove everything(well, just about everything).
Now the area is cleaned up. The weeds are gone. The ugliness that that made my beautiful Victorian look like a slum has been returned to its once former beauty.
I can't help but see the correlation between this patch of land and my own life sometimes. It is easy to become complacent and placid about our walk with God. We go along life thinking that all is well until a small weed begins to creep up in our life. Perhaps it is nothing significant. A small infraction against God's will for us. A tiny besetting sin that causes a mere hiccup along the road. But soon enough and before we realize it, this minor infraction has turned into something that requires the skill of a master gardener to remedy. What we once saw as only a small insignificant sin has now turned into a garden of fleshly, wanton disregard for God's word. It entangles us. It hinders us. It causes us to fall away from God's good graces and we head down a steady road of self destruction until we are lost in the jungles of life.
Sometimes our sin is easy to ignore, but eventually, it catches up to us. What was something that only I could see, now everyone else who passes by begins to notice and looks on with disgust.
Doing the much needed pruning in my front yard is simple, but pruning sin out of my life can be frought with anger, frustration and guilt. It is needed however if we are to maintain a right relationship with God the Father.
What areas of your life could use some weeding? Is it something that you've been putting off for some time? Is it to a point where others are beginning to notice?
Start cleaning up today. Don't put it off any longer and begin to seek forgiveness. Praise God that we serve a risen Savior who doesn't mind doing the dirty work in our lives. He is more than willing to help us clean things up a little. We have only to ask.
Start doing your "life gardening" today.
I have this little 8x12 section in the front of my house that would be the perfect place to put a water feature or a flower garden or something to that effect. It would add so much curb appeal to my house but instead, it makes things look as if i'm running some sort of slum apartment building.
For the past 2 weeks, i've been watching as the weeds slowly overtake this little patch of heaven as it begins to grow so wildly that it is now running over the side of the retaining wall off of the side-walk. I know that 2 weeks ago I should have started tending to it but i've been busy with work and church and anything else that I can involve myself in so that I don't have to take care of this jungle.
But sitting on my porch, reading a good book I might add, it simply got to me and I had to do something about it. Since I didn't have a large enough blow-torch to nuke it all in one fell swoop, I had to get down in the dirt and one-by-one extract all the pesky weeds. Grabbing them by the roots(cause at least I know to do it that way) I pulled the weeds out of the area and began returning it to the way it was before they started creeping in. It was a daunting task that even thought I complained about how I could be better spending my time reading or listening to music or watching a documentary, it really only took a short while to remove everything(well, just about everything).
Now the area is cleaned up. The weeds are gone. The ugliness that that made my beautiful Victorian look like a slum has been returned to its once former beauty.
I can't help but see the correlation between this patch of land and my own life sometimes. It is easy to become complacent and placid about our walk with God. We go along life thinking that all is well until a small weed begins to creep up in our life. Perhaps it is nothing significant. A small infraction against God's will for us. A tiny besetting sin that causes a mere hiccup along the road. But soon enough and before we realize it, this minor infraction has turned into something that requires the skill of a master gardener to remedy. What we once saw as only a small insignificant sin has now turned into a garden of fleshly, wanton disregard for God's word. It entangles us. It hinders us. It causes us to fall away from God's good graces and we head down a steady road of self destruction until we are lost in the jungles of life.
Sometimes our sin is easy to ignore, but eventually, it catches up to us. What was something that only I could see, now everyone else who passes by begins to notice and looks on with disgust.
Doing the much needed pruning in my front yard is simple, but pruning sin out of my life can be frought with anger, frustration and guilt. It is needed however if we are to maintain a right relationship with God the Father.
What areas of your life could use some weeding? Is it something that you've been putting off for some time? Is it to a point where others are beginning to notice?
Start cleaning up today. Don't put it off any longer and begin to seek forgiveness. Praise God that we serve a risen Savior who doesn't mind doing the dirty work in our lives. He is more than willing to help us clean things up a little. We have only to ask.
Start doing your "life gardening" today.
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