“Weeding a garden for ministry…you’re kidding, right?”
The thought crossed my mind once I found out that part of my daily ministry duties with my new ministry assignment in El Tunco, El Salvador, was to keep the garden weeded at the church where we are staying. However, serving the Lord comes wrapped in all different kinds of boxes. I accepted the opportunity to serve the church that was hosting my team But I honestly was not expecting much by way of growing closer to the Lord through sitting in the garden and pulling weeds from the ground.
However, God is showing me that He can use all things for His glory. He is not limited to typical standards that I so often try to place Him in. He will reveal Himself to me through anything if I will let Him. With open eyes and an eager spirit,
He will even show himself to me in the weeds.
So strange. I know. But hey, if God audibly spoke to Moses through a burning bush, why should I think it is strange for Him to lay some truths on my heart through some weeds in a garden?
After two weeks of this ministry, God has brought some realizations to my eyes through the metaphor of the weeds.
The weeds are easier to pull when the dirt is soft. The softer the dirt is, the easier it is to pull the root from the ground. The same is true of our hearts. The softer we allow our hearts to be, the easier it is for God to remove the imperfections. Hardened soil only hurts itself, making it more difficult to remove the weed. Likewise, a hardened heart only harms itself.
There are different types of weeds. Each one grows differently and looks different. Weeds can be a lot of different things in our lives. Struggles, temptations, trials, imperfections, impurities…..Thankfully, no weed is too big for us to pull with the help of our God.
If you don’t pull the weed from the root, it will grow back. Weeds are tricky little stinkers. You can pull the top of the weed from the ground and it looks like the problem is gone. However, the weeds will still grow back it the root is not removed. If I have weeds in my life and only take care of the problem from the surface up then the problem is still there. I may not be able to see it for a while, providing a temporary fix. But in the end, the problem will come back, growing the same weed once again.
For some weeds, you gotta get your hands dirty and dig. Some roots are deep, and can’t just be pulled up. You have to move some dirt around and dig a little deeper below the surface. As you can imagine this can be a messy process. Likewise, roots have to be removed in our lives to be able to fix our imperfections and brokenness. Removing these roots is a messy process! Luckily, the Lord loves us despite our mess. And while the mess is temporary, the weed will no longer have a place in our lives when its root is removed.
Sometimes, other people can spot a weed in my area that I didn’t see. Depending on where I am sitting a weed may be hidden from my view that one of my teammates might be able to see. It isn’t because I don’t want to see it or choose to not see it, I just can’t see it from my current perspective. Likewise, I can’t always see what I weeds are growing in my life. Not that I don’t want to, I just don’t have the right angle to see it. When my teammates point out the weeds in my life that I need to work on, it isn’t out of spite or to point out that I have an imperfect garden. It comes from love and a genuine desire for me to have the most beautiful garden I can possibly have. God created us to be creatures of community so we could help each other grow and flourish in His plan for us.
The longer you let a weed grow, the harder it is to pull it. The longer a weed grows, the more established its roots become. The more established the roots are, the more difficult it is to remove. The longer I ignore things that I need to bring to the Lord or work on in my life, the harder it will be to remove them. As the roots grow deep, they become a part of my core, taking up more and more room in my heart. The sooner the weeds can be removed, the better.
Weeding requires getting your hands dirty. Weeding is not a clean task. It requires getting your hands in the dirt. Sometimes, it even requires that you sit in the dirt. In my life God sometimes calls me to sit in the unpleasant dirt in order to remove a weed that I have.
When you pull a weed, you can’t just throw it back on the dirt. It has to be completely removed or it will grow right back. Pulling a weed is not enough. It must completely be removed from the dirt altogether. Otherwise, it has the possibly to again take root and continue to grow. When God calls me to remove a weed from my life, it is not enough to pull it, I also have to completely remove it from the surface of my heart or from the context of my life. Otherwise, it again can potentially take root and grow in my heart again.
Ignoring your weeds does not make them go away. It just makes for an ugly garden. Weeds don’t stop growing because you ignore them. They don’t need for you to water them or take care of them to grow. On the contrary, ignoring weeds will only lead to them taking over your garden. Ignoring my weeds may seem like the easy solution, hoping that as time passes, they will fade away. Rather, ignoring my weeds only allows them to grow stronger and take over my heart and my life.
There will always be weeds. No one has a weed free garden. You can work hard at weeding and get what seems to be all of the weeds pulled and be happy and rest in a weed-free garden for a short time. But in a few days there will be more weeds to work on. In the same way, I will never be perfect. And that is ok. Thankfully, I serve a Father who is patient and kind. He sees me as I try to remove the weeds from my life, and luckily, He does not judge me based on the looks of my garden. There is always room to grow with Jesus, I will never end this walk of growth with Him. With every step that I take and every weed that I remove or lesson that I learn, He celebrates with me. And then we press on, continuing our dance and tackling the weeds together.
God continues to surprise me with every day, speaking to me in the most unexpected ways. He is teaching me that He will speak to me through all things, in more ways than I could ever imagine, if I will open my ears and quiet my own thoughts. As long as I choose to have open ears and an open heart, the Lord will always be willing to speak to me no matter where I am in my life, even if I am sitting in the midst of the weeds.
Whitney
