Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.  Psalm 51:10 ASV

 By: Gretchen Speer

The woman who lived in our house before us left us with some beautiful landscaping.  I remember standing in the back yard the day we closed on our house and thinking it was just a shame that it wouldn’t look that beautiful for long.  To say I don’t have a green thumb would be a bit of an understatement, but I do attempt every year to get the weeds pulled and trim up the plants.  This year my faithful helpers and I started pulling.  As I knelt down to get a good look at how much work we had ahead of us I realized that this wasn’t just going to be pulling some weeds.  Full on grass had grown up in the planters.  I got so frustrated thinking about the hours and hours of work ahead of us. My first thought was to dump a massive amount of mulch on it to cover it up, but I knew it would be only a matter of time before the weeds and grass just popped up through that.  Grrrr, I hate yard work.  As always, when I am least expecting it, God started to work on my heart….

God:  You have some weeds

Me: Yes, I know I can see them

God:  In your heart

Me:  Ug

God:  Jealousy, Pride, Bitterness, Insecurities, Fear…..

It was then that I realized I had been covering these weeds with layers and layers of good intentions, and not really dealing with them.  It would take work to remove them, and just when I think the work is done they would try to pop back up.  Not removing them would mean making the conscious choice to slowly allow them to overtake my heart.  Grrr, I hate yard work.

I looked down at my faithful helpers and saw them looking to see what my reaction would be to the weeds.  Would I put the work in to make their environment beautiful, or would I cover the weeds and in doing so teach them to cover them as well.

What weeds are in your heart?  We all have them, the question is are we choosing to remove them or are we choosing to cover them up.  Our tiny, ever- present accountability partners are watching closely to see what we will do.  Our decisions affect both their environment and their understanding for how to properly remove a weed.

Happy Gardening Mommas!