Weeds

Weeds have become a large part of my life and compose much of my activity.  In our yard we have two large ‘natural areas’–no grass just pine straw.  The reason we made it natural was that grass refused to grow in those areas.  However, weeds do grow and grow prolifically!!  Especially after a rain the weeds are big and green and beautiful-if you can call weeds beautiful.

There are all kinds, little pine seedlings, elm seedlings, oak seedlings and thorny weeds that ‘bite’ when you attempt to pull them up, even with gloves.  There are weeds that have runners and pull for a foot or two disrupting the pine straw.  There are weeds that are thorny vines that grow from tubers and also run under ground.  These particular ones love to grow up into shrubbery and up trees creating large foliage and choking out the desired plant or tree.  I’ve noticed that some weeds have shallow roots and pull up easily,  some clumpy roots that bring up lots of soil with them and some long and deep roots that often break off instead of pulling completely up. Some weeds have flowers on them that turn to puff balls, which are really seeds to grow even more of these weeds when the wind blows them off the stalk.
Well, enough about weeds.  I often spend time talking to Jesus as I am weeding.  I find I can really bare my soul and tell him all about my pain, worries, anxieties and hurts and know that He understands and is working on my behalf.  Sometimes He helps me as I  talk through things with Him and in the process get a new perspective or feel comforted.

One day as I weeded, I thought those weeds are just like sin in our lives.  Sins, whatever they may be for you and for me, spring up and begin to grow.  When we become aware of the sin (see the weed), we are led by the Holy Spirit to remove it from our life.  Some of them are small and have a shallow root system and we can pull it right up and out of our life-they are gone and no one else is involved.  However, there are those sins that are ‘pretty’ with flowers on them and we’re sure if we leave them and enjoy this little sin, no one will be hurt.   The real truth is that the enticing, ‘beautiful’ sin will multiply and affect others ( blow into the neighbor’s yard 😊).  Plus, we rationalize, everyone has these weeds, it’s no big deal!!  (This particular weed has a long central root (sin) that is difficult to remove.). These are the sins we sometimes  try to remove and the visible part is gone out of our life for a while, but since it  breaks leaving the root–we have only superficially removed it.  When this happens, it will come back.  It reminds me of a Bible passage about the root of bitterness.   We might deal with it on the surface but until the root is competely removed, it will affect our relationships with other people (Hebrews 12:15).

Some of our sins are generational sins (e.g. alcoholism, child abuse). Our parent, grandparent or other relative also struggled with this sin and because they never dealt with this sin, or got help with it, it is passed on from generation to generation. (Exodus 20:5).
“Sin, as defined in the original translations of the Bible, means ‘to miss the mark’– the standard of perfection established by God and evidenced by Jesus.  It is clear, then, that we are all sinners.” (Romans 3:23) (from all about God.com).  Most of us think of the ‘big’ sins-those listed in the 10 commandments and feel really good about ourselves.  But, there are sins of the heart-impure motives, jealousy, pride, selfishness, anger, lust, etc.  These sins come from the heart.  Jeremiah 17:9 says ‘The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked’. (NLT)

The good news is-But Jesus!!  “If we confess our sins to a Him, He (God) is faithful and just to  forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness (unrighteousness).” I John: 1:9.  There is hope and that hope is in Jesus.  When we choose to receive Him into our hearts and ask Him to guide us, to live in and through us,  He becomes our helper, our comforter, our savior.

When I started this little weed story, I had no idea it would turn into a sermon ☺️.  Oh, well, just some musings from my constant task of pulling weeds. 😍