"Pulling Weeds"

It seems that the only thing really growing in my yard these days are weeds. Up until the past month I was especially proud of how green and weed-free my front yard had remained. Those days are gone!

On Monday, I bent over a pulled a weed..then I pulled another...then another...before long I had pulled every weed in the main part of my front yard. Last night I started pulling weeds on the side of my house. I pulled one weed, then another, then another...Next thing I knew, Anna was pulling weeds, then Kimberly and then Seth started taking piles of weeds to a pile in the back yard.

As I was pulling weeds, I noticed something. As long as I focused on one weed at a time, I made progress. The moment I stood back and saw all the weeds in the yard, I wanted to give up. I think the same applies to the weeds in our lives. I wonder how often we defeat what God could do in us because we see how far we have to go, become overwhelmed and give up before he can start. What if all God is looking for is someone to let him pull one weed at a time? What if instead of looking at loosing 70 pounds, we just looked at loosing one pound? What if instead of trying to work on ten things wrong in our marriage, we sat down and began to look at just one? What if instead of trying to read the entire Bible, we determined to read just one chapter or even one verse a day? What if instead of wrestling with all our hurts, we started bringing just one to the Father? Then, as we watch God pull that one weed, we would be ready, open and energized to let him take us to the next. I really think Satan helps us see everything that is wrong, so that we cannot focus on the next one thing God wants to make right.

Over and over again that is how Jesus said the Kingdom of God works in our world. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough" Matthew 13:33. The weeds of our lives and of this world can be eliminated...hunger can be stamped out, human trafficking can be brought to an end, every orphan can be cared for, poverty can be broken one weed at a time. And if every church would pull just one weed, just think of how beautiful the landscape of this world could become!

Let's go pull a weed!