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.

He Leads Me...

I am nothing without Him. He is the reason for anything and everything good in me. To anyone living apart from Christ, these statements may sound strange. However, to the person making the statements, who knows and has allowed a greater Love into his life, they are the reality of true living. Living that can never be possible apart from God.

How can a person claim that there is new life to be found in Christ? That His death and resurrection have provided a better way for us...the forgiveness of sin which brings us from death into new life? One can only make these claims if they have experienced it themselves through the surrendering of one's life to Him and the recognition of a need for Jesus as Savior. Without this recognition, we are left blind and in the dark. We must come to the end of ourselves in order to find the real beginning. Jesus is the light of life. He provides all that we need, ultimately fulfilling our desire for purpose and joy in life. Without Him, we are blind. He alone gives us eyes to see. Be fulfilled. What are you missing out on? Everything. Life. Be alive. Be set free.

"His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and His dominion endures through all generations." Daniel 4:3

Before I was born, He knew me; He made me and loved me. Life has been a journey from what I knew and understood in a physical, tangible way, to a new experience that probes the depths of all that I once thought I knew. He has given me the gift of seeing the world and people through His eyes. He opens our eyes so we can see in this way. He opens our hearts. He frees us from the wretchedness of selfishness and pride in order to open up the floodgates of love. His love. Oh, how thankful I am for the One who loves me unconditionally and perfectly. He is constantly at work in me, my heart, lovingly pruning and weeding in order to produce all that He has planned for me. He is gentle and kind, but never without justice. He does for me what He knows is best, even when it hurts. I say, yes, Lord, come and make me Yours. Make me more like you. The more I become like Him, the less I become in my own eyes. It is the incomprehensible result of His life and Spirit working in me. He is my gardener.

I remember the first time God allowed me to take a good look at the condition of my heart. I was appalled at what I saw. It was a barren wasteland with no fruit to speak of, nothing green at all for that matter...just a few straggly weeds clinging to dry, cracked ground, surrounded by what could scarcely be called a fence. The fence served no purpose, and there was nothing to distinguish what was inside (in my heart) from what was outside (in the world around it). My heart was ugly. The weeds...anger, selfishness, pride...but mostly anger. How did I become such an angry person? I didn't know and didn't care, all I knew was that it had to change. Dropping to my knees, I began to pray and ask God to pull the weeds of anger from my heart and burn them up. I knew that this dry, barren place was not what He had planned for me and there was no sign of the fruit of His life in me. It became my heart's cry, "Lord, heal me, remove the anger, replace it with your joy and love!" I needed help and, luckily, I knew where to find it.

He is my Gardener. My precious, loving Gardener. No sooner did I invite Him to do His work in me, did He begin to transform and change me from who I was into who I really am. Who I am in His eyes. He began to remove the "garbage," all the weeds, and, after baring my heart to Him, I began to receive the gifts of love and joy. Soon enough, I looked, and in awestruck delight, found that dry ground had begun to be tilled and was turning into rich soil. Little flowers were beginning to sprout up and bloom. I cannot tell you how delighted and amazed I was. My heart is evidence of God's miraculous work. He did it all....but, this is only the beginning of an eternal love story, He is a good and awesome God and has only begun to do His work. There's always more to tell and always more to learn. What He does, I am incapable of doing. I am nothing without Him.

Let the garden grow, my Lord,
May your love produce sweet blooms!