AMAZING WHAT I CAN LEARN WEEDING THE FLOWERS!

It's a sad thing to see a beautiful flower garden overrun by weeds...but then it's also sad to be so concerned about weeding and not plant seeds of beauty within one's own soul!  I didn't work as hard on the flowers this year, because I was so in need of working on the cultivating the beauty of my own spirit.  Selfish, yep! Sure was!  I knew that flowers would come and go...but I only have one life to live and one soul to nourish and One I must answer to.

This summer, reminded me how short life can be!  Two of my husband's great-nephews were murdered horribly this summer...very bright and thriving young men.  It rocked the community and it devastated the families and it messed with my faith big time!  Oh I never doubted God or blamed Him in any way---but the struggle was and still is...with the flesh versus the spirit!  The total war of satan against humanity is ongoing and we can get surprised by a grenade exploding the unexpected, unbelievable, the shock into our secure and mundane lives!  Who knew that morning that lives would  be lost, altered and shattered?  The agony of 9/11 hit our whole nation as a people...the horror of anyone who is a parent, grandma, high school kid, neighbor...learning two kids were brutally and savagely killed...is just as heart-wrenching!

People think Christians should be perfect, "ought to know better", and never disappoint others.  The very same folks will scream that its all fake, made up stuff, just a cult, and don't wish to believe it and call us feeble-minded and delusional.  Yet somehow they know...a Christian is supposed to be good.  Most are good.  We are human, and being human, are subject to the same passions to sin as everyone else...the only difference is--we strive daily to try to change that!

Being outdoors and working in removing the weeds choking out my flowers spoke to me about my neglect of my spirit.  I needed to go to prayer to first seek counsel on what "weeds" were overtaking my soul.  You know there are different kinds of weeds...some are really tough to remove even with both hands and gloves!  There are those that pop out easily...and some are vine-like and sneak around and twist into unseen places!  Now doesn't that sound familiar? When I got to pulling and digging...I ran into some other "enemies".  Amazing how some varmints have to hide under rocks...yep!  Move that big rock and ewwww....icky slimy bugs....same with our spirit.  Some otherwise unnoticed sins can be lurking in hidden places not so obvious!  That is why the Scriptures call the Holy Spirit the "searchlight of the soul"...He will illuminate what we need to see; but first we have to let Him look around and be willing to observe and hear what He tells us.

I had to spend time reading and renewing my mind to think like Christ.  The hardest part of that is that folks assume that means we should always think good things about people and accept whatever they do and always forgiving.  That would be nice if humanity were ever able to achieve it just by wishing it so!  Then there's the fact, that not everything is accepted.  There are things we are told NOT to accept, NOT to allow, and NOT to participate in as well.  God is Love but He is also Justice...Vengeance...Truth...and Wrath.  The world likes to only focus on God's Goodness and Love when its convenient and let's not discuss the downside of things.

My prayers were hindered because of anger this summer.  I kept at it, persevering and expecting the Lord to work on me...and HE did!  Am I perfect? NOT! Am I doing better? YES!  I am able to pray more fervently and submissively and clearly now.  I have to pray for me and my attitude, sins, and shortcomings first--then I can concentrate on others.  It's a daily walk.  Just as the sun arises anew each morning, God's faithfulness is fresh as the sunrise.  As the sun causes the flowers to bloom, God's Holy Spirit is at work in us to cause His Nature to thrive in us!  As we move closer to the trial of this young murderer...the emotions will flare up, the thoughts will run rampant, and the soul will struggle...it is the human condition.  We have to remember to look up and know...we are in the world and not of it! We have the power to overcome by the Power of the Holy Spirit to surrender those human passions to Christ...so that our feelings, thoughts, mouths are not used by the enemies of our souls....we cannot let the weeds and bugs overtake God's Nature...we need to tend to the fertile ground of our spirit to cultivate great and wondrous things...not the unsightly things!