Early mornings, cool sunshine rays, and a cup of coffee on the patio happen to be one of my favorite things to enjoy. I try to sneak outside unnoticed while the house and kids are quiet and have a few moments to reflect. The other morning, as I sat gazing out at the yard, I was awakened with a startling realization. My peaceful oasis was under attack!! My eyes glanced around the yard, and I noticed disarray and overgrowth. My perfect little shade garden that I love, was completely in disarray. It looked like a plethora of weeds had overtaken all of my well-manicured plants overnight. I sat there in disbelief at the number of weeds that had sprouted up. I remembered weeding and manicuring it not long ago! I was deeply disturbed by the state of my shade garden! I couldn't stand the weeds destroying my beautiful garden. I thought back to all the self-help yard tips I had read over the years. Aerate the soil, seed the lawn, clear out the leaves, mulch the flower bed and shade garden, apply weed preventer etc. I had done all of these things. I had carefully cleaned out the old leaves, applied weed preventer, broke up the soil and added good dirt. I had even applied new mulch to beautify the area. Then I got a little preoccupied and perhaps a little careless. My attention was divided and I had somewhat neglected the daily maintenance. I went too long without spending a few moments just tidying up my shade area. Weeds started to creep in. At first they seemed small and unnoticeable, but now they were destroying all of the beauty of my yard.

Later that day, I made a conscious decision. I was going to salvage my shade garden no matter what the cost. I wasn’t going to sacrifice it and allow the weeds to overtake it and choke out its beauty. I got to work doing the laborious task of weeding. As I weeded, the Lord began to deal with my heart. I began thinking about the effect weeds have on our spiritual temple. I had only neglected the weeding for a short time, thinking it didn't seem too bad and I would get to it another day soon and that it didn't look to bad. As I began to weed that day, I was shocked at how deep the roots were. It was exhausting work, tugging and pulling and uprooting them. Some of the stalk and root tentacles were twice as long as the plant and they were entangled into my Hosta's, Cora bell’s etc. The weeds were so small before and suddenly they were overtaking the whole shade bed. It seemed impossible to get them all removed! The more I worked, the more I found. The scripture came to my mind "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Hebrews 12:15. Pulling weeds that day, I pondered how a simple little weed or small offence can become such a deeply rooted, entangled issue in our life. It can begin as such a small issue and at first it seems unnoticeable, but then the fuel (sun) or water (rain) hits it and it just takes off with such tenacity, growing wildly until it almost chokes out the good fruit and plants. Uninhibited, bitterness will completely destroy the beautiful vessel that we are in Christ. Unforgiven can do the same thing. As a matter of fact, even just a little sin can become an enormous obstacle if we allow it to take root in our life. Scripture tells us that when sin is finished it brings forth death. It just destroys everything if it is allowed to take root in our life. Sometimes we are not even aware when a sin creeps in or a little root of bitterness or offence happens. It can be subtle. Maybe we just have a slight misunderstanding initially, but if not addressed, it will take root and grow. By the time it is finished, if we are not careful, it will be like the giant weed stalk that I pulled up. It took so much effort to get it uprooted because I didn't address it immediately. I should have gotten to it when it was just a small weed! I could have uprooted it so easily then. Speaking from a spiritual aspect, let us be wise to be sure to not let little roots of bitterness occupy our beautiful vessels! Don’t let the small foxes spoil the vine. Prevent the little sins from occupy a place in our life. Up root it today while it is just a weed. God Bless!