Thursday, April 14, 2011

Even the Seeds of Weeds


It is that time of year again.... the time of year where all sorts of spiritual analogies flood my mind as my hands are in the earth digging, pulling, planting and pruning.

Forgive me if I've shared or overused these analogies... but the Bible is to blame. Jesus used plant analogies LOTS, so I will to.

We want the good stuff, the pretty flowers, to take root and flourish. Right? So, I look at all that is involved in helping that desire along. I find great soil and I feed each plant with some pebbled looking "root blast". Root blast? Really? Well, hmmmm..... what would root blast look like spiritually in my life? In your life?
I water. I gingerly handle the plant and give it a nice place to live as I will it to take root.

But the weeds? Oh, no! I grip firmly and practically curse the entire root existence out of my flower beds. Be gone. I give some muscle into it and I pull with might and you know what? It's messy sometimes when it finally loosens and releases it's root from it's home. A messy splash of dirt in my face and all over my clothes cause me to think about how messy it is to deal with the sin in our lives especially to the root of the issue. What has taken root in your life that will be messy once you start to get a grip on it and begin the removal process? And even more... that one weed and the root that you've dealt with all too often has inevitably left some of it's seeds in that region.

The weed's seeds are there, my friend. Once exposed it more difficult to maintain weed free. Some may hear this fully and some may not. But, I caution you to not think you have dealt with the issue because the isolated event was dealt with. Those seeds go deep. But, God goes even deeper still.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Run. Bike. Dog-paddle.

Wouldn't that be a great bumper sticker? Run. Bike. Dog-paddle.

As I'm doing my physical therapy and thinking down the road of just what MIGHT be in my future, a triathlon popped into my head. When it popped in, I came up with this bumper sticker idea and think I could get pretty rich off of it. I can't tell you how many people say that the swim is their weak area.

Then, you know me... I had to plug this in somehow to something spiritual. :)

How many of us have a weak area? Praying. Evangelizing. Reading or memorizing Scripture. Giving.

When I think of God desiring our WHOLE heart, our WHOLE mind and our WHOLE soul (Matthew 22:37) I want to give 100% in all areas. Instead of passing something off as weakness, I want to let that be an area for HIM to be STRONG. (2 Corinthians 12:10b) And Lastly, I know that God desires for us to be sold out in one direction or the other (Matthew 6:24). He will not stand for the lukewarm (Revelation 3:15 & 16).

So, I will strive to use God's strength in ALL areas of my life. Will You?

And about that bumper sticker... I may not strive to be a better swimmer, so if any of you turn this into a bumper sticker, just make sure I get some of the proceeds!