I confess that I abandoned my garden this summer.
I was away from home for five weeks, and when I was home it was either too hot or too wet to really get out and tackle the tangle of crabgrass, thistle and dandelions. At least that’s what I tell myself.
One recent morning I began to dig in — literally — to root out my infestation of weeds, and God brought to mind our current message series, The Plow.
Isn’t our God so kind to fill our world with reminders of what He’s teaching us?
As I labored to clean out just one small flowerbed of weeds, I thought about what I could learn from this.
It takes so little time to go from fruitful to fallow. Just a matter of days and weeks. My inattention and lack of discipline in keeping out the weeds left the ground rich for the taking. Likewise, it’s so easy to miss a day of prayer and quiet with God. And when I’m not submitting to God, I’m fertile ground for the enemy.
Weeds, once fully rooted, require a lot of muscle to remove. Just clipping off the top, or near the ground, isn’t enough. Weeds must be pulled out by the roots. Often, I’m not strong enough to do this on my own. I need something stronger than myself. Spiritually speaking, that’s why God doesn’t have us do life alone, and why He’s given us the power we need through the Holy Spirit.
It’s so much better to stop weeds before they get big. Oh how I have come to appreciate landscaping fabric. Likewise in my faith walk, I need protection and preparation: prayer, being in the Word, community and accountability.
How about you? What are you learning through The Plow?
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. — Galatians 6:7-8 (The Message)