You ready? This is one doozy of a revelation. We have been in a dry spell in Florida for about two months. This means high heat and humidity. Imagine walking outside and immediately dripping sweat. I have all kinds of beautifying to do for the wedding I spoke about last week, but it has been insufferable to work outside until the recent rains.
This morning I went out and it was cool and fresh. So I attacked a flower bed that has been taken over by weeds. To my delight, the latest downpours have softened the soil so that most of the weeds come up root and all. It reminded me of a past lesson of how our tears soften our hearts in the same way the rain does dirt.
God removes unwanted intruders best when we are soft before Him. Selah.
But today as I mused over this lesson and pulled up the aggravating plant called Dollarweed, God started showing me faces of people to pray for. These are people whose soul gardens have spiritual intruders but they can’t seem to get a grip on removing them.
Here are my spirit landscaping tips from the Good Gardener:
1. Know the difference between a plant and a weed.
Dollarweed is not ugly. However it is invasive. So I had to intentionally separate it from the real plant. Likewise, my friends are so busy defending themselves, and their pride, they don’t seem to realize their identities are not in question— the intruders are. My friends are each beautiful gardens with good soil. Yet they have unwanted destructive forces threatening their well being.
2. Get to the root instead of breaking it off at the stem.
A couple of times, the weed broke off in my hand at the surface of the ground. I held a long slender shoot and leaf but no root. This is not lasting progress. My flowerbed may look better for a week or two, but I know the weed will return in time.
When you are doing soul healing, it is easy to remove the evidence of an intruder without actually getting to the root of the issue.
Here’s a thought. I wonder why we are not more alarmed by weeds, sin, intruders, robbers, (pick your word) that are strategically placed to take over our whole life. We seem content to casually break off weeds for appearance sake but not for freedom’s sake.
3. The root is deeper and longer than any of us know.
You can see in my photo that there is a weed attached to the root. But the long white strand is the root SYSTEM running under the offshoot. My prayer for my friends is a wake up call to see there is more going on under the surface than they realize.
Life really is simple in a garden. This plant belongs here and this weed does not. I do whatever it takes to remove the weed because I know, unchecked, the weed will eventually choke out my plant. Our hearts are no different.
Let me end where I began.
Rain softens the soil like repentance, our tears, softens our souls. A tender heart yields to God’s perspective about what He calls a weed. The real work comes next.
We agree that we no longer are willing to accept the weeds in our life. We will not ignore, welcome, or fertilize the intruders. And then we do the digging work that gets to real freedom.
Yes it’s hard. My back was killing me. I cut my fingers. But my flower bed looks beautiful and my plants are no longer barely visible. Guess what? I will have to continue to clear out the intruders.
My reluctant friends need to know one crucial piece of good gardening.
Holy Spirit was with me all morning showing me what to pull up and what to leave. It was even the Spirit who encouraged me to keep working way past my want-to. The Lord so gently kept telling me to keep going even though I was tired and sore.
There is a lot in this revelation for those who will ponder it. For me, I can’t afford to let intruders get too comfortable in my soul, emotions, or thoughts. They will try to take over the whole dang place.
Let it rain.