Pulling Weeds

So, I find myself 30,000 feet up in an airplane on the way to Oklahoma City. (Just a guess – honestly, I don\’t know how high airplanes fly.) Anyway, I have about an hour and a half to kill, and I get bored easily.  So, what else to do but write, right?

On the way to the airport this morning, I was looking at all the yards with pretty purple flowers in them.  You know the kind you don\’t have to plant… the ones that come up miraculously in the spring all on their own?

Well, we have a multitude of those in our yard as well.  And just last week, I was out pulling them out of my garden by the fistfuls.  Why? So I could see the other pretty purple flowers that I had planted myself just last year.  As I was pulling out those pesky purple plants, it hit me. They were about the same color as the ones I had paid for and planted on my own.  But these were free.  They were effortless… and created by God.  Hmmm.  I wonder how He feels about them? Does He look down on us silly humans and say, What are you doing? I planted those for you! Why are you trying to make things harder than you need to? Enjoy!

I’ve started looking around as I drive down country roads and up hillsides.  I’ve started really seeing all those flowers that we call weeds.  The purples, yellows, and pinks just scattered through fields.  And they\’re beautiful.  No human on earth could ever top what God, Himself has made.

So many times, I have stressed over getting the weeds out of my life.  But now, I have to say, I may start looking at the world a little differently.  I wonder what things God has put in my life that I’ve considered worthless, messy, a pain to deal with.  Things that get in the way of what I’ve got planned.  Sure, there are definitely things in my life that need to be torn out and tossed away.  And true, weeds can get out of hand and take over a garden. But in reality, most of the weeds I\’m stressed over are things I’ve put there on my own.  I look back and can tell you, there were times I tried to make my ministry MY ministry, when maybe God had something better in mind.

Let me encourage you to take a look around you — at your life and your ministry. Are there things that just keep popping up and getting in your way?  Maybe there’s a reason for them.  Maybe you need to stop and see the beauty in what God is doing and join Him in it! I think you\’ll enjoy the ride.