I have a client who I help a few hours a week. Recently, I have volunteered to pull some weeds for her. I knew that she would enjoy having this done. She is mostly housebound and spends hours looking out her windows at her flowers.
I am not very knowledgeable about plants. I knew that if the job were being done by my husband, he would know the names and needs of the different flowers. I barely knew enough to know what was a flower and what was a weed!
So, I decided to play it safe and pull only the things that I was certain were weeds, definite grass, and little tree sprouts on the loose. Just sticking with the things that I knew, I had a huge pile. The flower beds had been let go and were a mess!
I was distressed when I was pulling some of these weeds. There were some of the intruders’ roots that had gotten so intertwined with the flowers, that as I pulled, both came up! I quickly put the flowers’ roots back in the soil. I had to be more careful.
I found myself praying, “Oh Lord! Help me. Weed my heart! Weed my heart!” I want God to remove anything that does not belong in my flower beds.
I need help in caring for my children’s hearts also. If it were up to me, I might get confused. I might not know for sure what was a weed and damage something precious down in the heart. In my haste and ignorance, I might get rid of the flowers.
The next time I went to weed, my friend told me about these horrible plants that were taking over her roses. She didn’t know if I could safely pull them, so she told me to snip them off everywhere I found them. She told me the name, and she immediately had my attention. Morning glories? I knew exactly what these were. She wouldn’t have to describe these to me.
I went outside to eradicate all the morning glories, at her request. I was chuckling to myself that what she found an intruder, other people found a thing of beauty. Morning glories were some of my father’s favorite flowers. He carefully had them on the backyard fence. I remember him being so excited when they were in bloom that he came and got me out of the house to come see his prized flowers.
Later, I told my friend that I had taken care of the morning glories. I told her how my parents had thought that our morning glories were so nice that they chose that backdrop for a photo shoot of me when I was young.
What one person thinks is a weed, another person thinks is fine. I said, “I’m asking God to weed my heart. I don’t want to have something that I excuse…an attitude, a conversation…that God wants removed.”
She snapped, “God may like morning glories, but I don’t!”
I laughed. (Maybe she missed the point.)
I’ve gotten to know my friend who is in her nineties, so I am aware of many things that please and displease her. I am determined to press closer into the heart of God. I want to know what pleases Him better and better. It’s not about me. If it doesn’t please You, Lord, cut it out of my garden!
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Philippians 3:10
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5
This is good. Such a great way to pray. I appreciate your devotionals, Elizabeth!
Thank you for your encouragement!
Haha I’ve never heard of anyone getting rid of flowers! Love these thoughts and analogies. 🙂
I’ve started weeding at my Church as a humble way to Serve. Me that hates yard work. I have also thought of many similarities in Gods Word about weeds in our Gardens and in our Life.