Unrelenting Weeds

Oh boy, did I let my vegetable garden get out of control with weeds this year! It all started out so beautifully when I tilled the soil in the spring and planted all my veggies in perfect rows. Not easy work but the results are so rewarding. We brought out our two torquoise garden chairs that we love and our small wire table with the silver platter as a top and sat there to admire our hard work. With a craft beer for my husband and a chilled glass of wine for me, all we could do was bask in the beauty of it all. Then came the rains and more rain until about a month later our garden was invaded by a million tiny weeds!

My husband and his brother went at it and weeded the raised beds along with the pathways. It looks so tended and loved within those gates when they were done. Then again, the rains came and the weeds grew. We went up there and weeded the raised beds but didn't do the pathways. Our intentions were to spray the paths with weed killer but we never did it. So, weeks later the tiny weeds became tall weeds and a few weeks later the tall weeds became amazon weeds. We couldn't keep up and it all seemed so overwhelming that we surrendered to them. We handed over our garden territory to the enemy and as a result the weeds choked out our fruits. Every glance toward our once beautiful garden covered us with shame.

How often do we let this scenario play out in our minds, hearts or lives? Where there once was a joyful song in our heart, we let the negativity take over as life's trials watered it. Where we once had a nice roll going of being in God's Word daily turned into busyness and our spirit life shriveled. Weeds are inevidable and so are the ups and downs of life but one thing I've learned is that whether you're tending a garden, a heart, a mind or your life...it needs to be tended daily! My saying is, "It's better to do something small than nothing at all." Yet, I did not live that out in my garden scenario. I didn't FEEL like going out there daily (I'm more of an indoor person) and that choice, that neglect, allowed my enemy to take over that territory. My garden bore no fruit.

Let's not allow this to happen to our minds and hearts though. The garden is just the example of when we get lazy what happens. Next year can be a new start with lessons learned. No great great loss. But, loosing precious territory in our mind or heart IS a big deal! That territory is God's and at ALL cost we are to defend and protect it! There is no margin for error when it comes to our spiritual lives. We are to plant God's Word daily, water it with the Holy Spirit daily, tend it with perserverence, weed it with truth, till it with love every day. We are to share the fruits daily, feeding and nourishing others. I'm sad and a bit ashamed at what I allowed my garden to turn into. But, as it went unattended I was busy going to bible studies, worshipping God through song, going to church, sharing the gospel, reading and studying my bible... and the garden of my mind and heart were producing the fruits of the Spirit!

Children of God, maybe we can't do it all and maybe there are some of you who can but at the cost of some precious moments. One thing I do know is that NOTHING should ever come before tending the Spiritual garden of our hearts DAILY. And don't allow the enemy of our souls to deceive you that it is a joyless task for it is not. Take joy in it! Sing along to worship songs, read your bible out loud, smile as you serve, talk with God all day and focus more on thanking Him. There's SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR. Act out these joyful tasks and He will bless your heart's garden with all the fruit of His Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. God's Spirit is the best organic weed killer. Your heart's garden will display His glory for His glory.

Psalm 68:19, "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who DAILY bears our burdens." (If God bears our burdens daily then surely we can praise Him daily.)

Matthew 6:11, "Give us this day our DAILY bread..."

Luke 9:23, "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross DAILY and follow Me."

Hebrews 3:13, "Encourage one another DAILY..."

Knots

I've admitted that I'm not a multitasker and when too many things get on my plate I get overwhelmed easily. So often I am amazed at how others handle so many major issues at one time along with the multitude of small things happening in between. This morning as I was doing some sewing I was praying and asking God to guard my mind with His helmet of salvation in regards to some things that are coming up. As I was praying the spool of thread dropped and I ended up with a handful of string that was in knots. It didn't upset me too much because for some reason I love to unknot things! I think because it keeps me focused on one task and it clears my mind of other issues. It relaxes me and in that state of mindlessness I'm able to hear God in  ways I otherwise could not.

As I began to unknot the string the Lord spoke to me regarding how I need to let life unfold in His terms and not mine. I looked down and in my hands were so many knots and I had to just start at one end and one at a time along with patience and joy (I had Christian music on) take one knot out at a time. I couldn't focus on the knots ahead and I had to stay intent on the one knot that was on my attention. One knot at a time. As I worked on it the Lord kept revealing to me that that is exactly how He wants me to handle my upcoming issues. God works along with us to unravel the circumstances and trials of our lives. We are never alone, we never have to be all-knowing, we never have to get ahead of ourselves. The All-Mighty God of the universe who designed us before the foundations of the earth handles our knots. In His timing all things work together for good!

All God wants from us is trust and obedience. When we surrender to His timing and trust in His grace we are free from anxiety, worry and control. Relinquishing control to our unseen God is probably one of our hardest tasks and only reveals a seed of unbelief in our mind and heart. So many times we want to take the machete from Him, tell Him to get behind us and just start chopping our own path through the jungle before us. We often do that and it just leaves us exhausted and lost, laying there praying to Him to help us. Let's try a new way! Let's surrender to Him and trust Him to make a way before us that is best for us. One knot, one mess at a time.

Isaiah 25:1, O Lord, You are my God, I will praise You. I will give thanks to Your name. For You have been faithful to do great things, plans You made long ago.

Psalm 9:10, Those who know your name will put their trust in You. For You O Lord, have never left alone those who look for You.

Isaiah 46:11, "I have spoken, and I will make it happen. I have planned it, and I will do it, says the Lord."

Deut 7:9, "Know then that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He keeps His promise and shows His loving-kindness to those who love Him and keep His laws, even for a thousand generations."