Devotionals

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The New Patio

Weeds, weeds, weeds! Every where I look, weeds. They’ve been growing all winter and each rain storm has made them multiply and spread. Funny, when I’m on a water diet I lose weight, but weeds just seem to get taller and invite guests. I didn’t really even notice the weeds till I got my patio finished, now when I relax on my new zero gravity lounge chair and look past the new terracotta bricks, red lava rocks that are around the tree in the center of my brand new patio, and hanging flower baskets bordering my brand new patio , that’s all I notice. They all seem to take away from the relaxing effect of …did I mention I had a brand new terracotta patio surrounded by flowers and red lava rock? If not, here I go again……

Well, I just thought my work was done; now instead of breaking my back laying bricks for a patio, I’m on my knees pulling up weeds. It’s a shame too; they are the only green thing that grows on my lawn. As I pull up one loosely rooted weed another springs up to take its place. This is one of those endless, thankless jobs that I just love looking forward to doing. Please, take careful note of the sarcasm; I don’t want it to be wasted. If I wasn’t afraid of weed eaters, due to my clumsiness, this job would be easier. But I figure using a weed eater for five minutes then spending a day in the emergency room doesn’t compare to the hours of manual labor even though some of those interns are kind’a cute.

Apparently, more than weeds have taken advantage of my winter sabbatical from the lawn mower, (now I will use the lawn mower despite my fears of losing toes, there is just no way I’m going to use scissors to level out my lawn!) Little trees have sprouted erratically about with roots too deep for a mere tug of a feminine hand, a calloused feminine hand with dirt under cracked nails. I have to rise from my kneeling position, brush the dirt from my knees, and search for some shears to snip these uninvited guests in two. That is really sad as I have wanted to plant some trees, but these didn’t cooperate and sprout in feasible locations around the borders, but smack dab in the middle of nowhere, yep, that’s where I live, Nowhere, U.S.A.(zip codeless)

Now, since pulling weeds is mindless work, (something I’m qualified for!) I reverted to thinking. (I know, that’s hard to imagine!) It dawned on me that the weeds sprang up from inattention; I had been too intent on building myself a peaceful retreat, developing tunnel vision, spurred on by lust of the eye. If I had just been on the job during the winter, or at least at the start of spring, I could have reduced the unwanted burdensome plant problem considerably. Ahh, a comparison is banging me on the head with vehemence! Are you ready for this? Weeds are like bad habits,(the politically correct term for sins) they can grow and multiply when we neglect to practice good habits, when we take the winter off, to just lay back and rest or divert our concentration to other projects. But the good news is bad habits can be broken or pulled up with some sweat and hard work. They only become difficult when we let the roots dig deep into the soil like the miniature trees I had to snip off with shears, those are the habits we need extra help surmounting, like alcoholism, over shopping and spending, over eating, cursing, judgementalism, to just name a few in a long list of weeds. The longer something is ignored, or lived with, the harder it is to conquer: the more drunk, broke, friendless or fat we become.

You can sit in the middle of Eden like my new red terracotta, flower lined patio with the lava rock encircled tree, {see initial paragraph for further description!} and sip mint julep tea while being invaded by an army of weeds, or you can open the word of God and succeed at brick legal identity theft by conforming to the image of Jesus, a process that requires daily work (effort, commitment) without time off for the holidays or seasons. Being too focused on one good deed, the patio, doesn’t excuse us from practicing regular spiritual hygiene!

P.S If however, you do find yourself on your knees pulling up weeds after the eye opening moment of discovery while sitting in your anti gravity chair on your new red terracotta brick flower lined patio with the lava rock encircled tree, make good use of the posture by multitasking, in other words, PRAY; it’ll make the time more beneficial and pass pleasurably. Oh, and wear gloves when you pull the weeds, your hands will appreciate it!

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