Deep Roots
It’s that time of year again when I prepare garden beds for flowers, vegetables, and fresh herbs. Unfortunately, I’d allowed the weeds to gather and cover the beautiful soil, and I had a time trying to clear them all out. At first, I ran my gloved hand across the top of the soil and pulled as many as I could by hand, but these roots were so deep I needed a tool.
However, even a tool could only pull the large weeds. It couldn’t pull all the tiny hair-like roots that thickly invaded the soil. I knew anything I planted would be robbed of necessary nutrients, choking out the good roots of flowers, herbs, or vegetables that I wanted. Ugh.
I felt the heartache of hopelessness.
These weeds reminded me of the habits that take over the soil of my life. They were entrenched—firmly established, and the soil in my planters was hopelessly ruined. I could saturate the soil with weed killer and ruin the good soil with chemicals but then, I wouldn’t want to grow anything edible in that kind of soil. I could completely dump the weed-filled dirt, add fresh soil, and start all over with an empty planter. That seemed the easiest answer to the gardening problem.
What about the weeds in my heart?
I couldn’t very well replace my heart with a new one, could I? Can you? Of course not. But Jesus can. When we receive Him as Savior, He gives us a new heart, but we must guard it, protect it from invasive sin, realize we must deal with bad habits the same as we manage weeds and daily inspect our hearts as we do the soil.
Distinguish the good from the bad.
Think about it. Just because a weed has flowers, doesn’t mean it is beneficial, and it could even become out of control. (I Corinthians10:23). Every time a weed pops up or we recognize a bad habit is forming, we must do something about it quickly. We can’t let it linger and take root. Just as we turn the soil in the garden regularly to expose the roots to the sun, we must expose bad habits to the Son of God. Let Him scorch them out, forgive us, and help us start again. His love is the best weedkiller out there!
How do you manage the weeds in your life?
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