Pulling the tops of the weeds only works as a short-term fix. If you want lasting results, you need to get to the roots. 

On New Year’s Day, I weeded the mulch that lay around the base of the Ginkgo Biloba in the front yard. I had short gloves on with a few holes in the tips of some fingers. 

We have Bermuda grass in our yard. This grass has a wandering root system. I dug up the mulch and found the white root. I pulled and pulled and pulled. The box I put the grass roots in filled up quickly. 

Grass is great when it grows where it’s supposed to. When it grows where it’s not supposed to grow, then it’s a weed. Weeding is messy; you get dirty, bitten. I stirred up some ants and received some painful bites on my wrists. 

‘Oh yeah,’ I remembered, ‘That’s why I wanted to buy those LONG garden gloves.’

This isn’t the first time I’ve weeded the Bermuda grass, nor will it be the last. I see the ant bites as ‘casualties of war.’ Skin swelled. Itching provoked scratching. 

Life has weeds.

Symptoms might be on the surface. Some of us might be ignorant of our ‘weeds’ but others see them blatantly. Pulling weeds at the surface only means they’re coming back, sooner than you’d like. Maintenance makes it easier. The longer you wait to weed, the thicker, more time-consuming the mess is to clean up. 

We all have hidden roots of weeds in our life: abuse, unconfessed sin, strongholds, collateral damage. As long as the roots stay in the dark, the weeds grow. Hurts fester; collateral damage continues. 

I tended to be a fruit inspector. I looked at others’ and ignored my own, rotten, stinkin’ fruit. Please forgive me if I’ve done that to you. I needed to review some sermon notes because I was too busy thinkin’ that ‘so-in-so’ needed to hear this. I didn’t listen for myself. 

In Ephesians 5, Paul writes to believers and shares the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to live through them, enabling them to live differently once saved. We need to yield too. In verses 11-16, Paul talks about exposing the evil. Once exposed it can be used for the Light.       

God, would you help me weed my own garden? I need to expose some roots. Roots like, fear: of the unknown, of the future, and of man, have kept me ‘weedy.’ You are the gardener (John 15). I yield, knowing it will hurt. But Your hurt is for my good. Your character tells me so. You are trustworthy. Let’s get tending this garden so I can confess sin quickly and You can pull these weeds out. Thank you Lord, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.