Weeds

I love spring time. The sun is finally shining and the heavy rains have stopped.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain. This year particularly, seemed to saturate my yard. As March approached, I hoped to start working in my garden, but my yard was a bog.

Muddy, squishy … there was no way I could work the soil yet.

Then came April, and the rains slowed, but still the ground was very wet.

Finally by mid-April, we had enough sun to dry the soil.   

In my excitement, I looked at my flower beds, and realized there was a lot of weeding to be done.

I am always ready to plant more bulbs and flowers. But removing the weeds is my least favorite part.

The early blooming bulbs had died back, so the tops needed to be removed. Also, there was a lot of grass and weeds that made their home in my garden.

It takes several days of tedious work to remove the weeds and prepare the soil. It gives me lots of time to think.

I contemplated the "weeds" in my life, and how if I ignore them, they don’t go away. They can spread and choke out the good things God has for me. We all have things in our life that need clearing. Maybe it’s attitudes or fears that we need to allow God to remove. We can trust Him to help us, so that instead of the ugly weeds, people will see Jesus in us.

I wrote a poem years ago. I can’t remember it all, but basically it talked about us starting out as a bud. The trials of this life can try to choke it out, but as we grow in our relationship to God, the bud grows and opens to a beautiful flower. (The poem was better).

So, as I weed out my flower beds, I look forward to the beautiful flowers that will grow in their place.

The colors … the scent. Even the variety, reminds me of how creative God is.

But first the soil must be weeded, and fertilized to grow the best flowers.

And so it is with us. We have to believe in Jesus to have our sins (“weeds”) cleared out. 

Then we nourish ourselves with fellowship with others, and reading the bible. That’s how we grow.

Now, back to my garden. where the fun part of planting all the flowers and veggies begins!

I am enjoying this time outside.

I hope you are too!

And, I pray blessings over you and yours!