Weeds and Thorns

I have been so tired lately. Summer is just wearing me out...and there's still two more months of it!

Today, the girls and I went over to church to water the flowers. I noticed the weeds have really tried taking over since all of the rain from this past month! We decided (ok, I decided) to weed the flowerbeds. Bad idea. I mean, it's a good idea but I just wasn't mentally prepared for the amount of weeds. I didn't bring my gloves, and the girls kept hurting themselves on the playground and just walking! I noticed that all the flowers and plants looked relatively the same size as last week, but the weeds looked super huge! I was trying to think of ways to connect with the weeds spiritually, and I started thinking of how weeds, like sin, seem to suck up all the nutrients and crowd out the plants and flowers. Sin tends to suck up my energy and time and crowd out the good qualities in me.

Then, I came across a weed that had a very pretty flower on the end of it. At first, I couldn't decide if it was indeed a weed or just a different flower I hadn't noticed before. I began inspecting the stem and leaves and then realized it was just like the other, smaller weeds I had plucked up; the only difference was that this one had gotten so huge it was able to produce a flower. I started thinking of the ways Satan tries to deceive us by making sin look pretty and appealing and similar to actual good things. The more we inspect it and really compare, the more we can see that it is really just a huge sin in our lives that we've let go until we cannot recognize it for what it is.

It's amazing, the relationship between sin and weeds. Just like a garden, our lives need to be "weeded" to get rid of the sin that we've let sneak in and suck up our spiritual nutrients and try to just blend in with the rest of our lives.

I can be so judgmental. I usually try to justify it by telling myself that in order to be hanging out with positive and encouraging people, I need to pick apart their lives and habits and actions to know if they're good for my spiritual growth. Now, reading that with a clear heart and head just sounds awful. I don't recall reading anywhere that Jesus sat and judged everyone's actions before deciding to sit and eat with them. Or judging Mary Magdalene's actions before she wiped His feet. He simply accepted them where they were and fellowshipped. And HE IS JESUS!! I think I can handle doing the same, being just sinful old me. I mean, who do I think I am sometimes to go around deciding how good people are?! It's disgusting what I let myself get away with. And I'm ashamed to know that it's habitual for me. I don't even think twice now that I've done it so often.

And now to think that God will still love me. I ask Him for forgiveness and He simply accepts my apology and my sinful self as I am to fellowship again with Him.

How great Thou art. I couldn't have said it better.