I love summer and beautiful gardens but I don’t love gardening. Who really likes pulling those pesky weeds? I like “weeding” my soul even less than my garden. But if I want beautiful fruit in my marriage, I’ve got to get on my knees to weed my soul.
Weeding my Garden
Do you like to garden? I’ve always been averse to kneeling for hours, sweat pouring into my eyes, plucking those horrible weeds out only to see them pop their evil little heads a week later.
When I was little, we were sent out to the garden to weed every week. I spent my time digging to China instead. Which, for some reason, enraged my Dad.
My aversion to weeding continues to this day. My sweet husband knows my struggle and loves to find just the right gadget for the job. Last year he purchased a propane torch weed burner for me! It does the job wonderfully, provided you don’t have wood chips in the garden.
I still hate weeding the garden.
Weeding my Soul
Here’s the analogy-my positive traits are like beautiful flowers in my garden. I like to show them off: kindness, faithfulness, understanding, perseverance.
But my negative traits (come on, you know we all have them), are like the weeds in my garden. I don’t want to look at them, don’t want to be reminded of them, and I actually want to blame you-know-who for them. My negative relationship traits include resentment, bitterness, jealousy, impatience. The list goes on. And on.
You get the picture!
If weeds like bitterness and resentment toward my spouse are sprouting inside of me, it’s because the soil of my soul is nurturing those relationship weeds. What comes out of me originates inside of me.
If my garden has weeds, that’s because the soil had either roots or seeds that sprouted into weeds. If negativity is coming out of me that’s because negativity is inside of me. Pretty basic, but totally true. And most of us are blind to this truth.
I can’t blame anyone else for what’s sprouting in the soil of my own soul. When I recognize those weeds I need to get down on my knees and start weeding.
…make sure no one lives with a root of bitterness sprouting within them which will only cause trouble and poison the hearts of many.
Hebrews 12:14-15 TPT
Here’s a wonderful resource for wives in praying for their marriages. There’s lots of practical tips and many personalized Scripture prayers. It’s called Make Us One. This workbook is a great way to start your weeding project.
.because U count, deb