Pulling The Weeds

When I was a teenager– my job in the summer was to pull weeds for 1 hour before I could go out with my friends. I would try to just do the weeds in the backyard because I was afraid someone I knew from school especially the “cool guys” would see and laugh at me. But, eventually, I had to go to the front yard to pull weeds and, of course, it was right up to the side of the street. So I would pull until I saw a car coming by and then I would sit there like I wasn’t doing anything- especially pulling weeds.

Eventually, I got to where I hated pulling weeds, no matter how nice it looked afterwards. Maybe it was boring etc., or maybe it was because I knew it was a never-ending job – I’d be back in that exact same place next week -pulling weeds.

When my husband and I got our first house he put decorative gravel stones down out front, but he also put plastic down first and I thought “Great – No Weeds!” It worked! Three years later we moved again. So once again in the front of our house, we put down plastic, only this time we used lots of mulch before we planted anything.

We’ll there must have been a mix-up when they made that plastic, because in no time at all there were so many weeds along the side of the house that I couldn’t tell where my flowers were. I was devastated. I thought, “Here we go again…” Then I thought that I would get my kids to help – Ha!!! They hated it as much as I did, plus, they were pulling up some of my flowers with the weeds! So, I started pulling and pulling. Pulling the easy ones first, and thought, “This isn’t so bad.” Well, then there are those weeds that you try and pull and all you get is half of it – that’s when the garden tools have to come out. I got my garden tools and a mat to sit on because I knew it was going to be a while.

As I was pulling and sweating to death the Lord spoke to me saying “Pull the weeds out of your own life, so you can be even more beautiful. Don’t let the weeds crowd you and your life.” That day when I had finally finished (several hours later), I stood up looked at the flowerbed, and thought, “Wow”, this is so beautiful, so organized. I found plants I forgot I had. I then looked at all the weeds lying in the sun all dried up and dead. I was reminded again by the Lord about “Weeding out my life and letting those weeds dry and die away.”

You see my flowerbeds were now free from weeds. Not just one kind of weed, but many different kinds of weeds. I was excited to water them and watch them grow. (Heck, now I could finally see them!) Now we all know that was not and will not be the last time I will be pulling weeds. There will always be something in there that shouldn’t be there. But I am no longer so overwhelmed by it. I still don’t like doing it, but with a commitment on my part to pull weeds as soon as I see them, it will keep them from overgrowing my flowerbed and making it ugly.

The same is true for us – what “weeds” are in our lives? Which weeds are so deeply rooted and strong that we need to get out the tools? Maybe it's envy, jealousy, pride, selfishness, gossiping, etc. - Whatever it may be we need to weed it out of our lives. A weed will pop up again in our lives from time to time, but we need to recognize it right away and get rid of it before it gets so deeply rooted it gets entangled into other parts of our lives.

This book will hopefully give you simple, but important analogies that relate to life and God’s word. I have always learned things quicker when an illustration was used. These stories came from the Lord to me, and they are in order of how they came. These have really impacted my walk with the Lord, my life, and my relationships with others. May you be blessed as much as I have been from these.