The Yard

I spent some much needed time in my flowerbeds this weekend.  It is a pretty big event because I only clean them out a few times a year.  I have a wonderful collection of perennials that just come right back and do their thing.   When the weeds around them disappear and they are mulched, the rose bushes and native Texas plants I have pop! 

I had a few helpers come out to lend me a hand.  I allow the kids to carry my pulled weeks out into the pasture and bring me back my clean bucket.  I also love it when they get my handheld twister tool out and put it to work.  My husband is a gadget man and thought I had to have it last summer.  I wondered if it would be a deal or dud.  It falls into the “deal” category because it works like a small tiller.  I also ask the kids to bring me water and offer me company as I get the job done, but that is about all they are really allowed to do. 

Call me crazy, but I like to pull my own weeds. I want to make sure that I get them from the root.  I can  feel it when they come out correctly. 

I was working through an area today and felt accomplished because everything was coming out nicely.  I wanted the job done correctly before I put the mulch down.  I was pulling and thinking, like I do every spring, that this weeding the flowerbed stuff is just like weeding out the sin in my life. 

I like to pull my own weeds to make sure I get the root.  Likewise, I have to be the one to confess my sin and ask to be forgiven.  Nobody else can do it for me!  I can feel it when I confess with a pure heart and I am forgiven too, just like I can feel it when I get a weed all the way out. 

I am also the only one who can identify the root causes of my sin. I mean the way down deep, it has been growing for years, and it is so far under the surface that nobody else can even see it or would even dream that it existed in my life, kind of sinful root.  I can visit with a fellow Believer, see a Christian counselor and they can guide me to an understanding of my sin, but I am the only one who can say, “Yes, that is the root and I want to pull it up and rid it from my life.”

Maybe the part of my flowerbed experience that relates to life the most is the mulching stage of proper bed management.  A bag or two of mulch can cover up anything.  We buy way more than a bag or two and cover my beds heavily!  We have a roofline that will wash some it away when it rains.  We also have to overmulch to accommodate the chickens that peck their way through a layer or two before we catch them.  Even with the normal wear and tear of the season, my mulch will make it through most of the summer, but guess what? 

Any weed that I left under the mulch will also make it through summer. It will at some point wind its way through the mulch towards the sun and peak out, much to my dismay!  Sin left unconfessed will do the exact same thing in our lives. Even if we cover it up, it will inch its way to the top again and cause us grief. 

We better deal with our sin and not just cover it up because if the roots are still there, it has the power to destroy us.  1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  Do some weeding, spring cleaning, whatever you do at this time of year, but don’t forget to clean out the sin too!