Whatcha weeding?

Our lives are perpetual craziness. Then you multiply that with summer actually hitting, and somehow it moves into a hyper gear that I didn't even know existed or was possible. Most of the time I honestly don't even realize it. You just go to the next event on the calendar, maybe throw a roast in the slow cooker or a load of laundry in the wash. We are in the season of life that revolves around business. For the most part I enjoy being busy. It keeps me organized and kids entertained. Every once in a while although I'm reminded of the consequences of our business-- a suburban that looks lived in or a house that has exploded.

Today my reminder was a garden that no one would even know was a garden.

 

 

Yikes! So on my hands and knees I went. Carefully lifting up each leaf to try to discover what was plant and what was weed. It was a tedious project. The first three rows took me two hours (no kidding). I know because I did it while Eli was down for his morning nap. The next two rows took me an additional two hours done during Eli's afternoon nap. This was my result after four hours!

 

 

I wish this was the finished project, but I only got half-way through the garden today. You can imagine all the things that were going through my head as I tackled this one weed at a time with sweat dripped from my nose and other undesirable areas. Many of my thoughts where as follows: why did you wait so long to do this? these vegetables better be worth it? YUCK a SPIDER! I'm so glad I'm wearing gloves since I just touched that earthworm. Next time I'm not going to let it get this bad.

 

And for a little while I actually thought about my spiritual life. There are so many things that God is growing in me like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithness, gentleness, and self-control.(Galatians 5:22) Each of these at different seasons in my life. Each one needs to be watered and nurtured. Yet there are times in my life when I allow life to over take me. I slowly allow things to creep in such as bitterness, envy, anxiety, comparing... to name a few. These things start to choke out the godly characteristics in my life. Soon I'm faced with a day when my spiritual garden looks like this physical garden.

 

I was reminded that just as I need to weed out my garden. I need to weed out those thoughts or characters that creep into my life. My spiritual garden is in need of a good weeding. So that's my challenge to myself. To take time to identify the things that are creeping into my life and are growing that I don't want. Those attitudes and characters that I am spending time cultivating and focus again on the things I want to grow.

 

What about you? Are you ready to do a little weeding? If you had to pick on thing to work on today what would it be?