My Neighbor's Weeds

Today I'd had it. For about a year now, I have been walking down the driveway to the sidewalk in front of my house to inspect the front garden situation. We have a little landscaped area about 12' x 12'. This whole past year I have been watching as my neighbor's bushes and weeds have begun to overtake our side of the yard. Our landscaped area flows together with theirs and their entire area is overran by the bushes that are planted in it and along with that, there are weeds coming up everywhere poking up through the bushes. I've been tolerating it and tolerating it, not knowing where exactly to draw the line, and not wanting to interfere with my neighbors' yard...not wanting to offend if I accidentally pull something up that they may have wanted there. "Who knows," I thought, "maybe they like the way that weed looks and don't want it pulled up...?" Well, today I'd had it. I was sick and tired of tolerating the weeds and allowing them (along with the overgrown shrubs) to creep unwanted into my yard. So, I drew a line, the most appropriate one I could draw, and began to pull up everything that was on my side of the line. I pulled and pulled and I'll tell you what, there was a lot of garbage that I had been tolerating in my yard from theirs. It felt so good to clean up my side, to have that line be distinctive and separate from their side. I accomplished much today.

Then I got to thinking about life and how it is so typical for us to behave with our own lives as I had been behaving with my front yard. We tolerate other peoples "weeds" which can pop up in many forms, such as anger, bitterness, lust, greed, anything that is not tended under God's watchful eye, and just by living in close proximity with them, if we're not careful, their ugly behaviors begin to creep into our own hearts and lives. The truth is, if we don't keep that line clear to both us and them, and make a daily effort to bare our hearts before the Lord and allow Him to pull the weeds in our own lives, the weeds of others will creep in. It can often happen slowly and as a result of us not wanting to offend. We look at other people who don't know God and say, "well, they seem happy enough," or, "I don't want to be presumptuous or pushy," but the fact of the matter is that those things in their lives are weeds. A weed is a weed and when there are weeds, even the plants that are supposed to be good become overrun and out of control. So, it is important to keep that line clear, to let other people know what is acceptable to you in your life and what is not. Also, to show them and everyone who sees exactly who it is that is Lord of your life and that there is no happier, healthier or better way to live. That your life is not your own, it belongs to the "Master Gardener," Jesus, who removes the weeds, prunes the out of control and brings fruit daily. There are no better hands to be in than His.