Weeds and Deeds

I love the look of my new yard...new to me but used and enjoyed by others before me.  I despise weeds.  Did you know you can pull one weed and three more appear?  Really.  Almost instant.  Like housework, it's a job that never quits, never gets completely finished,  back-breaking and actually just sweatty work.  I'm not that fond of sweat either.

And don't get excited...this is not my flower bed!

But I keep plugging...er, unplugging, I guess.  I tackle a small area at a time, saving my back as much as possible, wiping the aggravating sweat out of my eyes while longing for the cool, comfy peace of my little sunroom.  I stay out of that little sunroom and I keep working in that flower bed because each and every flower deserves as clean and neat a setting as I can give it.  They are God-given, of course, each with its own shape and color and as convinced as I am that my Father gave those flowers for my enjoyment, they come with responsibility such as care, protection and nourishment.

It has occurred to me that my life is exactly that...a yard of beauty with the inevitable weeds cluttering and clamoring to take over.  God made me in His image but I mar the beauty with selfish thoughts, cutting words and neglect of what's true, noble, pure and lovely.  I constantly have to pull these weeds and discard them, only to find they have slipped through my consiousness and made their presence known when I least want them.  My sweet husband knows this about me so well, yet he loves me still. 

Oh, Paul, how I can relate to your words in Romans 7:15:  For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

As the weeds continue to grow and I continue to pull them up, so goes my spiritual walk.  I will not give up praying for strength to walk in God's way, I will not grow discouraged as the work continues.  Instead I will keep my eyes on the Lord and prepare myself for spurts of growth and times of weeding out.  I will not grow discouraged because I am a work in progress, a Christian in the midst of growth, constantly evaluating and cleaning up my life in anticipation of the greatest reward of all!