Weeds

This week I decided to weed that front yard of mine. Once they begin the take over, the grass dies. I have put in a ton of work on the yard. We have an HOA and they do not allow any type of discord in the yards. During these last two years that front yard has had more attention than it deserves. It couldn't be much larger than 400 sq feet.

First I tore the grass out and put in turf. I thought my troubles were over until I discovered that the turf was summer grass. It did as designed and died when winter came. So I did winter grass seed. Then I got busy and you guessed it. The winter grass died for summer. I did not mow it right away so it once again did the natural thing. It smothered the new growth form the turf that lived underneath. To top it off, ants came to live in that dead mess. Those ants were so thick they made the earth move. I had what looked like a fire burned yard with ants and weeds. See what I mean? I killed the ants (actually I believe they are just hiding somewhere waiting for my nice new grass.) and for the last five days I have weeded that thing. Remember, it is July in Arizona. Victory is at hand, however, for now that yard is weeded, bug free, covered in seed and fertilized. Pray it grows. We have monsoons now but if that sun hits it too hard it can die again.

The reason I write this saga to you is because of what I learned while weeding that yard, as the sweat dripped from my body. The weeds resemble evil roots in our life that keep us from enjoying the abundant life Christ died to give us. Things like bad habits, sorrow or grief from the past, shame from childhood, victimization and abuse. The wrong coping devices we used to survive that past life, then, still paralyzes us for today. I noticed that the weed root attached to the grass root making it harder to pull up. Even though the old grass root was being choked out by the weed it still attached deep. When the old grass root was dead the weed was a breeze to pull up, so was the old grass root.

You see, we need to release the old grass root, those things from the past we hang on to as if we need them to survive. Those old coping devices are unhealthy so are the recordings of the past that tell us stuff that no longer applies. They may have been a reality yesterday but today they are a lie. The truth is that we are new creations in Christ and we have a new life in Him. Once we let go of and release the past and place our lives into his hands we can site and pull out the weeds that choke and steal our new life. That weed has no power if it can not attach to the old memory. Pull it out, get every last bit of that root out and throw it away.

Christ's Image verses

Phil 2:27 He shows mercy

Prov 16:5 His not proud

Psm 34:16 He is against evil and intends to remove the memory of evil from the earth