I am not a gardener. First of all, I do not know what I am doing when it comes to flowers and trees, fertilizer and round-up, pruning and gardening. Secondly, it's hard! You work all day long in the heat and sun to realize you may only be halfway through! Whew!
But, this Spring season I find myself staring headlong into yardwork that is mine to maintain. And it intimidates me. I love watching the new life burst forth, but along with the new leaves and budding flowers come...weeds.
Some weeds pull up easily. You adjust your fingers down close to the grown, give a slight pull, and they slide right out, roots and all.
But others...for crying out loud. I couldn't jar them loose with dynamite!
That, my dear friends, is me.
And along with new growth and new life and a refreshed sense of purpose come the nagging, deeply rooted weeds that we struggle to relinquish into the Hands of our Creator.
For me, that deep root is selfishness. And it rears its ugly head from time to time. It's the thorn in my side that reminds me that I am human - flawed and guilty and un-able. That's the thing with weeds. You can pull them up and they are gone...ta-da! For a while. Only a while.
Especially the very deeply-rooted ones. Like mine. And now and then, my loving Gardener comes along to tug at these ugly weeds growing once again in His garden. (And it is, after all, HIS garden). They do not belong there. My selfishness and pride, my hurt feelings and pouties, my unforgiving, judgmental weeds do not belong there. And they have to be removed. And it is painful and unsettling, uncomfortable and scary. But, I know - because I have been there before - that once gone, what remains is the beautiful landscape that is not me but Him shining in my life.
I desperately despise the growth of these weeds. I despise even more when He points them out to me and begins to tug. However, I know that it is much less painful to daily relinquish them than to hold on tight until He begins to yank them painfully out. Because, you see, God loves me. He loves me enough to not let me settle into my status quo. He loves me enough to say, "You're not done, yet, Nancy. I'm not finished with you. I have Great Expectations, and I WILL NOT STOP until you are complete."
That is how much I am loved. Enough that He never settles with me. He will continually pursue me until I am complete in the life He has planned for me.
And I love that He pursues me. I love that He challenges me. I love that He steps on my toes to point out the weeds in my life that need removing.
I love how He loves me.
