Dealing with the Weeds
by Angela Weir
I recently started gardening again after a long gap. I spent a lot of the early part of last year visiting my husband who was in hospital, and later the weather was so terrible that the ground became too wet to walk on, and some of the flowerbeds were under water. I was told just before Christmas that in our area we had only fourteen days from April on when it didn’t rain in some form or another! Well, it is Cumbria, so what can you expect?
Spring is one of my favourite times of year, when the new flowers are coming up, and in one particular patch of my garden, I had snowdrops, crocuses and cyclamen all out, and daffodils just appearing. Unhappily, along with the flowers come the weeds, many of which were allowed to flourish last year, so the perennial ones, the dandelions, thistles, dock, nettles, brambles and couch grass have all grown strong because of my neglect, so it is going to be hard work getting rid of them all. With increasing age I find the joints creak rather more as I bend down, and I get tempted to leave things to their own devices, but I know that if I do leave them, I shan’t get the flowers I so much prefer.
Is it sometimes that we get lazy in our Christian walk? We get so used to old ungodly habits and behaviour patterns, and it becomes really hard to remove them, so we feel inclined not to bother. If we do neglect them though, we gradually find that the garden of our lives has become overgrown with the weeds of sin and our relationship with God is damaged so much that we’re struggling to have a relationship with Him, let alone live the abundant life Jesus has won for us on the cross.
Let’s take an early opportunity to do a thorough weeding job and deal with those persistent weeds, putting to death the flesh life and really seeking to move on in the freedom of the Spirit.
Prayer: Father God, You are the best Gardener we have. Please would You give me the strength and courage to deal with the weeds in my life, those things that spoil my relationship with You. Help me to put to death the old habits and behaviour patterns and please fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ precious name I ask it, Amen.
Angela Weir has been associated with Ellel Ministries from the very beginning, first as an associate member of the ministry team and later as an associate teacher. She trained as an actress before moving to Cumbria, where she taught drama in a girls’ school. She now teaches and ministers at various Ellel Centres.
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