They've All Got To Go!

Well, we’ve seen a pretty dismal winter this go around, but not to complain because the cold is quit beneficial to the fruit trees stimulating new growth, producing more fruit and Lord knows we needed the rain. Now the weeds I could have gotten by without. I thought in years past I had worked hard enough pulling and doctoring weeds that spring-time would get easier preparing for a nice summer lawn. Forget it this year! I pulled up burr clover runners until I was blue in the face from bending over, but it’s that or contending with those illusive little burrs in the carpet a month from now. Those things can sure make you light on your feet at two in the morning when you step on one somewhere between the bathroom and the bed. So, about the time I thought I had the clover beat back the weather started to warming up some and out popped those little thistle trees with the decorative yellow flower on top, not to be confused with dandelions. Those crazy things look like a miniature evergreen and have tap root like a tree. The ground is wet enough that, with hands adorned with gloves, most can be pulled out of the ground. With the help of a little gardening spade the rest can be persuaded to turn loose and be placed into the trash can. But, every now and then one can hear a snapping sound deep in the ground when the little tap root breaks off and some of it remains in the soil. That’s generally followed by a little voice heard to say, “I’ll be back!” and rest assured, that root will grow again, maybe not this year, but... If you’re a weed puller you soon discover there’s no shortage of what you’re trying to rid your yard of. It seems one can fill a whole “Homer Bucket” with pulled weeds only to turn around and see just as many waiting to be pulled. I’ve noticed that the small weeds I pass over getting to the big ones have become the eye sores that need to come out of the ground next. I guess there’s no such thing as a little weed. If you want a clean lawn, all the weeds have got to go! Oh, I can’t wait for the crickets and mosquitoes to come.


[2 Peter 2] From the “Out of the mouths of babes” department: A family is riding in the car when an ad for a current movie comes on the radio. At the end of the advertisement there is a disclaimer; “Opens Friday in a theater near you! This film contains intense thematic material, graphic violence, nudity, strong sexual situations, drug content and coarse language. May not be appropriate for children under thirteen.” The family’s young son sitting in the back seat asks, “Mommy, who would it be appropriate for exactly.” The apostle Paul writes; “Everything is permissible for me” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” but I will not be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12-20). “Everything is permissible” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” but not everything is constructive (1 Corinthians10:23-33). So just what is appropriate for me in this sinful world that would justify my character and please my God? One only needs to look to God’s Word for those answers. God helps us get the weeds out of our life. There are the obvious sinful practices that do not please God and with those out of the way we allow the Word of God to examine us closer where we discover inappropriate actions we may have never considered before, or just past them over as, “that’s just the way I am” sort of thing. Like there are no little weeds, once discovered growing about in our life, there are no little sins. If you want a clean heart, mind and soul before God, all your sins have to go.