I am one of those people who gets giddy when spring flowers arrive at the local nurseries bursting with color signifying the start of a new season. I get so excited that I immediately want to go buy new flowers to plant in pots around my house, hang in pots on the porch, and plant in my flower beds. Unfortunately, I am at a time in my life where I cannot devote enough time to my yard, flowers, and garden for it to make it through more than a month after planting! I used to love to plant and nurture flowers to grow and expand throughout my flowerbeds and to cultivate a delicious, vibrant vegetable garden. Every gardener knows, and even just simple homeowners with flowerbeds know, that with gardening and flower beds and yards come WEEDS.
Weeds are unbearable, smothering, difficult things that can quickly overtake a yard, flowerbed or garden. I recently just weeded our flowerbeds that somehow were overtaken with weeds. I could have sworn not too long ago, our yard and flowerbeds looked immaculate. Now you could still see the plants in the beds but they were suffocating under vines and stalks that I did not plant there.
As I was cleaning out the weeds, I began thinking about the nature of weeds and how they are so relatable to our daily walk in life with God.
The first thought I had about weeds, is how fast the problem gets out of control and spreads. I may have noticed a handful of small weeds in the flowerbeds, but a couple of short weeks later, all of the flowerbeds are completely overtaken by the weeds.
In a similar way, if I allow a small problem or a bad habit to creep into my life for just a short amount of time, it will spread quickly. I know many times in my walk with Christ, I have been dedicated to a daily time that I meet with God and pray, read, and worship. If I just let a day or two slip by and say I will do it later or I will do it tomorrow, before I know it, I’m no longer spending the much needed time in prayer and scripture.
I also noted the subtly of the weeds in the beginning. This is how the enemy works. He is subtle and puts distractions in our lives that may not be bad or obvious that they are unhealthy, but they will eventually take over and weed out the good in our lives.
Another thing I noted as I was laboring to pull the weeds away from my other healthy bushes was that these weeds could be suffocating and potentially kill the plant they are wrapped around. Most of the weeds were deeply rooted in the flowerbed and wrapped around my other plants.
Finally, some weeds could actually be pretty and/or useful. I used to have mint growing in my flowerbeds. In my opinion, mint is beautiful and delicious adding wonderful flavor to water and sweet tea! Although it is useful, it will take over an area and multiply if not contained. There are so many great things in our lives but we must learn to contain them so that they are beneficial and not harmful.
I love the Parable of the Sower that Jesus teaches in Mark 4.
The Parable of the Sower
4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
My prayer is that I have good soil, rich soil that soaks up the word as soon as I hear it and stores it in my heart to rely on during difficult times or persecution. I also pray that I do not sow seeds among thorns or weeds where the worries of life, the love of riches, and desires for other things choke out what God has in store for me and prevent me from bearing fruit. Oh how I want to have good soil and bear fruit.
How Can I Cultivate Good Soil?
When cultivating the soil, there are two main aspects to focus on: removing the weeds and loosening the ground for optimal retention of air, water, and nutrients.
Removing Weeds…
Every person has different weeds. Some are more deeply rooted than others. Some spread to all areas of the garden while others sit in one place and just grow deeper and deeper. Regardless of the type of weeds, the most important part of removing weeds is the ability to identify them. Without identification, there will be no removal. For me personally, our busy schedule is a huge “weed” in my life. The involvement in activities is not a bad thing but if it hinders me from spending time with God, in prayer, in the Word, or with my family, it can be a toxic component to our life. I have to intentionally limit our activities and involvement and only allow things that are a necessity or we are truly passionate about. I am a yes person so I love to say yes to everything. I do not want to miss out on an opportunity or event. I become spread way too thin, grumpy about my commitments, irritable around my family, and overly exhausted, incapable of allotting time for my spiritual growth. I can think of other weeds in my life but I will not bore you with the details. The main point is that you can identify your weeds, pray for help removing them because some will be tough and many will return and require regular maintenance.
Loosening the ground…
Once the weeds are removed, you have the room to loosen the soil, open it up, and receive the nutrients we need in our spiritual lives. We must open our hearts to be able to absorb God’s Word. Without an open heart and mind, we will not be ready to receive the nutrients to make a good, productive soil. We must have the desire to know God and cultivate our spiritual lives through prayer, reading of scripture, and time devoted to God. We must put in the time and effort to fertilize our hearts and produce fruit in our spiritual walks.
Pray for these things…pray for a deep hunger for God. Pray for God to help you open up your heart and soul to Him. Pray that He will show you how great His love is. After all, when we begin to grasp how much He loves us, we fall more and more in love with Him.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:16-18
“Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.”
1 Chronicles 22:19
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1
I desire to know God more intimately and deeply. I long to weed my soul of the things of the world to make room to cultivate a soil that is loosened and opened to hearing the Word of God, accepting it, and bearing fruit.
Shared with love,
Lindsay
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