When the rain hits and pelts the parched ground here in the desert, I head for the weeds. Stubborn little hearty pests, they scatter seed and poke their heads in all the wrong places. The assault is useless I have learned, without ample supply of water.
The water drenches the ground and the weeds, unknowingly, soak up, fill up their roots with the precious desert commodity. With roots full and ground moist, one simple tug rids our land of the nuisance. In the past, I dug, ripped leaves, frustrated by the roots that stuck hard in the ground, mocking my kneeling.
In my life as well. A part of me, grumpy fretting anxious flaw, revealed in the mirror. Recognizing it as a weed, sown amongst the wheat, I began to dig, pull with passion, only to hold the leaves in my hand, root in tact, laughingly ready to rear its head over and over.
Living water, the Word of God, soaks down to the root of the weeds. Saturating daily, when the weed I spot, a simple tug of recognition and repentance brings the dangling pest, roots and all, out of my garden.
Weeding in the drizzle yesterday, back bent, heart humbled ... I learned from the master gardener.
And so the count of thankfulness continues, this time with weed lessons learned
rain that pelts and the Word that drenches
the ease at which the baby weeds pull softly from the dirt leaving no hole of remorse
the light of His love that reveals the sins as they creep in slowly, just starting to take root
joy filled success when the overgrown nasty relinquishes its rights on the land and struggles free swinging roots and all in my hand
knowing that the overgrown sins in my heart can be pulled with strength and ease as I soak in His Word and promises.
little hands that pull with me, sharing, giggling, learning alongside
teaching the next generation the ways of the master gardener in our lives
a clean patch of earth and heart, ready to plant seed for harvest
32 comments:
Great words here, Sara! I love the one "knowing that the overgrown sins in my heart can be pulled with strength and ease as I soak in His Word and promises." So true and I needed to hear this today! Love your blog!
I returned from my walk at the beach wall today and smiled at your comment which made me want to splash on by and get soakin' wet over here! Following you now, and still smiling. Thank you for that, Sister! In His Grace, Dawn
Thank you so much for stopping by Leaving A Legacy today. I loved your post. You have a beautiful way of weaving words into poetry! Thank you for sharing. I will be stopping by often. :)
Thanks for coming by Provoking Beauty today. I am looking forward to getting out into the yard because that means: a) I feel better, and b) it stops raining.
I love how He pulls with grace. So thankful to have His word that strengthens and empowers. Beautiful post! Enjoyed visiting here! Thanks so much for visiting my little blogging home:)
Great lessons! The line that struck me most is "baby weeds pull softly," reminding me that we need to search our hearts often and not let any "root of bitterness" take hold in my heart.
Thank you for bringing me here by commenting on my blog!
Your writing is poetic! Lovely!
It's terrific to meet you! Thank you for visiting my site today! I love your comparison of sins to weeds - that's me too trying hard to pull those ugly roots and failing unless I soak in the Bible! Love that!
Love the picture you've painted for me today. Thank you! I'll be along side you. striving to pull these pesky weeds easier: by soaking Him in. by using His strength. by pulling them one at a time.
And grace will bloom as a result!
All for Him (with hugs to you),
Nikki
Knowing that the overgrown sins of my heart can be pulled -- oh my what a gift for sure! Love that God can just pluck them out when we let Him garden our soul. Blessings.
Thank you for visiting my little story today, and yes lets splash in His word and our hard hearts become light!
My gardening heart just loves this post. Love the gift of gardening! :)
Such a pretty blog! I love the beach so I'm loving the look. :) So much here I want to come back and read when I have more time. Thanks for visiting my blog and just a nosy question....I noticed that someone had visited from Mercer, PA around the time you had. You? Just wondering because I'm just a hop, skip and jump away in Latrobe.
Such a helpful metaphor! It's amazing how God speaks to us through tending to our gardens. Glad to meet another tea drinker:)
I think you are having our spring, with the rain!
Heather
Wow. Amazing analogy here, and I'm so grateful for your words. It's kind of rare to hear about sin these days, and even more rare to read about the power of God's Word to make us soft in His hands. Easy to pull. I have been encouraged by your heart tonight, and am still smiling at the comment you left over there at freedom journal. Blessings, friend.
Bernadette
www.thefreedomjournal.blogspot.com
Hi Sara!
"the Word that drenches"...I need that today!
Thanks for visiting my blog today and for your kind comment. I'm touched that you'd want to spend some time and get to know me. I'm also glad for your comment so I could now visit you.
In Christ,
Laura
Hi Sarah!
I loved the gardening analogy...
beautiful.
I also love that you are involved in missions!!! I was planning on being a missionary nurse to Ecuador until the Almighty changed those plans... now I'm a missionary to 6 kids in Indiana instead. :) God bless you!!!
thanks for stopping by today...glad I jumped on over...I love the garden picture...so true...I want to get my weeds when they are weak...blessings~
well said.
"the water of His Word" -- I feel them coming up easier already.
Thanks for your simple word picture. And thanks for your kind words on my blog.
*nice to meet you* :)
Hello Sara
Thank you for visiting my blog today and leaving such a lovely comment. You have such a lovely family who appear to love the beach. I live in the Caribbean so that's one of our favourite pastimes as well.
Thanks for the refreshing dip...I'll splash by again.
God bless!
Lovely, so very lovely, just like your heart, sweet friend. It's amazing to me how quickly those weeds pop up without your realization (both literally and figuratively). We always need to be on guard lest they overtake our beautiful gardens...
Mornin' Sara,
Each part of the body has specific functions. I am so glad to see the member of the body named Sara, lift pen to paper anew, and drench hearts and souls with their God.
I recall living in your neighborhood decades ago, experiencing what you do. East Lincoln Drive by Camelback and Casa de Paz Y Bien, the House of Peace and Every Blessing....for souls to retreat from life for a week and regroup with God.
But rain was rare.
My coworkers all went running outside one day and I thought it was a fire alarm. I ran too.
"Is there a fire" I asked.
"No silly", said a cutie co-worker.
"Look up! There's a cloud in the sky today!"
I see them everyday coming off the Great Lake and never considered going outside to see a rare passing. It's a dry life there!
But when the rain season came for a week or so, wetness cleaned the dust from the air.
A smell of wet straw, freshly cleaned, permeated everywhere. I will never forget that smell.
The roadrunner's lightening-bolt legs across the yard, seemed to slow to a blur when wetness was there too.
Different folks capture different blessings from your words here. I focused on your feeling of anxious, as I just read that yesterday elsewhere. The blogger was anxious.
A comment said that being anxious was (never from HIM). They like to talk spiritual warfare and blame all evil on satan and all good = God.
But I had drenched in the Word as you advise, and recall the anxiety growing in Pharaoh, as Moses kept up those danged plagues FROM HIM.
And I thought of St. Paul, a Christian killer, watching St. Stephen be stoned to death.
Off to the desert town of Damascus, he was struck blind for three days. But at the time, he did not know it was three days; it could be forever, and suddenly. Surely he was anxious at blindness.
And that anxiety was surely from HIM once again.
What emotion do we possess that was NOT created by HIM?
To show us how to use any emotion just fine, Christ skipped eternity, and entered a slice of infinity, for us to see how humans incorporate these emotions.
They are called The Beatitudes in Matthew, and each says Blessed are those....or Happy are those...
He forgot only one!
Blessed are Those who Write Splashing stories of HIS love for all, for theirs is the gift of Peace.
That would be you!
Welcome home.
beautifully written, with a beautiful message.
Keystone,
I cannot respond to you personally, there is no way for me to hug you through words except in this place.
Thank you for the downpour of encouragement. It is as if somehow you knew of the parched state of my pen and how with joyful tremor I picked up once more.
To be open, real, vulnerable. life laid bare for people to wade through unseen in this land of blog. This place, my story, only a puddle. But if someone accidentally steps in, joy splashing on their boots, and walks away carrying the footprints ... then this place has served a purpose of glory, step by step.
Be blessed my friend (and enjoy the clouds),
Sarah
I am embarrassed to know if you are a Sara, as in the post, or a Sarah, as in the comment.
The latter is Biblical, musical to say, and filled with strength and laughter. Someday, tell us which.
Your hug with words was warmly received.
Thank you.
I comment, not blog, although my sisters are all after me to write. Occasionally I sub for a Blogger, but prefer them to take credit.
You have been unaware that our God has asked folks to pray for you.....a long time. We do.
What I have spoken does not come from me.
He has many ways to speak to anyone.
I just happened to be on the WAY.
Prayers continue; anxiety is no longer in your realm.
No clouds here; global warming has been good to us. The flowers have bloomed weeks ago, and are not usually here until mid to late April.
We went from Fall to Summer, skipping two seasons.
Snow here is usually like Flagstaff...measure in feet.
It never arrived for the first time ever.
I shoveled a tad of snow ONCE, as the street plow filled me with perhaps 4 inches of flakes.
End of winter.
No Spring; Summer is here.
The warmth on body is as needed as the warmth on our souls.
I see no place on your spot to email you either.
If so, I would ask you and your audience to pray for Avishi. She is 5 years old now, in India.
At age 6, she becomes available for her parents to earn money by prostituting their girl.
An effort is underway to raise $750 dollars to free this lass. $100 has been sent in a week.
I asked the collector what she wanted from me.
"OH, you are one of them I call on for prayer.
The rest will all follow".
Info on Avishi and her organization to freedom is in Significant Living Magazine. The writer always emails for prayer.
My email address is on your subscription email.
You are welcome to use it when the desert winds blow sands of confusion, or a simple hello, or when you need laughter.
If you monitor comments, I would supply it there, and you could then delete my comment.
God will tell you what to do.
It is the way He works.
We just have to listen.
And pray.
And splash.
God be with you and your family.
Such beautiful words. You truly have a gift of putting them together :-)
I've heard lots of gardening analogies to spiritual life before, but none quite like this about the weeds when it is dry, tearing the leaves but leaving the roots, etc. Powerful. Thank you for stopping by my blog the other day.
as I was weeding today I was thinking how i can't let these weeds grow! and I just have to plant little seeds of hope for my kids...
I am your newest follower..pls follow back if you can.
happy gardening!
What beautiful, poetic word pictures you've painted in this post! And profound truths as well. Thank you for these wonderful analogies about roots/sins/God's love.
Wonderful words! Thanks for visiting my blog!
Blessings today!
-Hannah
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