Lessons from the Garden

After weeks of neglect I finally made it around to partially weeding my horrendously overgrown flower bed. Despite the lack of rain the grass and weeds towered over the beautiful pants I had work so hard this spring to accent my home. I wasn't lazy in my weeding responsibilities exactly. I guess busy would be a more appropriate word. There were lots of other commitments to follow: band camp, vacation, getting my classroom ready for school, home visits, and starting school. As I was weeding I noticed all my small begonias had died and my taller plants were struggling for space within the choking weeds. Blisters formed as I pulled grass and weeds up to a foot tall. As I was weeding I wished I had taken a few minutes everyday to stop and pull up the weeds while they were smaller. It was in that moment I thought about how my flower bed could represent our spiritual life. At times we take great care to plant spiritual truths in our life. We water and nurture them until they grow into a beautiful display for others to see. Then life happens. Some of us take the time to stop and pull the weeds while some of us just get plain busy. I didn't mean to let the weeds choke out some of my garden. What I was doing was good and important for others but it left it's mark outside my home. Satan sows these weeds in our spiritual life with the hopes that our business will not leave us time to do the much needed weeding. He will tell us what we do instead is important or we can do it later when life slows down. But just like my flower bed our spiritual life left unattended will leave an ugly display for all the world to see as they drive by the house of our lives.