Life Lessons While Gardening 

While I was visiting the US last month, I noticed a lot of growth. This doesn’t just include myself, but my (now) 9 month old puppy, my relationships with friends, family, and sponsors, and, after I arrived back at the orphanage, the plants surrounding my front porch. Some of them are quite pretty, standing 4 feet tall, with dandelions atop, small flowers budding, and leaves the size of my hand. Others are small weeds and grass-like plants, weaving their roots into the dirt just below my rock bed. It’s hard to look at the beauty in the flowers, when there is so much weeding that needs to be done.

This past week I’ve been taking a half hour or an hour every few days to remove some of the weeds, pulling and cutting to see the rocks underneath. Let me tell you, the bigger the weed, the deeper the roots, the harder it is to fully remove. Without removing the roots, it’ll just grow right back. I’ve seen it happen with a few I’ve pulled just days after returning.  I’ve gotten a couple of bug bites, I’ve gotten a few blisters on my hands, and it’s taken a lot of time, but I am seeing more improvement day after day, as long as I continue working on it. It’s not easy and it’s nowhere near perfect, but it’s definitely better (and easier to look upon) than it was the day I got back. Funny thing is, if I don’t give it some effort, it won’t disappear on its own, but may end up growing stronger and/or larger.

While I was on my knees taking scissors to the most stubborn weeds, I was also thinking upon weeds in my own life. Those things I can’t seem to get rid of that I know are causing me to not be the best I can be. I know, like the weeds on my front porch, if I put the time and effort into removing those weeds from my own life, I will start to improve. I know it’s not going to just all disappear in an hour or two of work. It’s looking for those little instances I can seek another option or decide not to let the “weed” dig its roots deeper into me. It is a process that will take time, effort, and may sometimes be difficult or painful, but it’s worth it.

I want to see the rock (Christ) within me that may be hiding underneath my weeds, those silly little things I let get in the way.  I won’t be perfect, but I will definitely improve more if I continue removing those weeds from the root just in the small decisions I make everyday. I want myself and others to see my flowers, rather than my weeds. What is/are the weed(s) in your life? Maybe it’s a characteristic, like greed. Doubt. Pride. Selfishness. Guilt. Negative thinking. Impatience. Fear of the future. Or maybe it’s more physical, like a relationship that needs mending (or ending). An idol. An addiction. A bad habit. Consumption (not only including food and drink, but music, television, gossip, etc.) What can be done now to start removing the weed at the roots?

“They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their
detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from
all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them.
And they will be My people, and I will be their God.”
Ezekiel 37:23