When Your Life Seems Buried in Weeds
Gardening is a pastime that I typically enjoy. I find it relaxing for the most part. Being part of God’s wonderful creation, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, and gaining food and flowers all make it worthwhile.
This year is different. Excessive and continual rain for many, many weeks left me with a garden I couldn’t get on to work and weeds growing everywhere and taking over. As I sat in the garden one morning to try to tackle the weeds going to seed in my muddy garden, I saw a sea of weeds that had grown higher than my sitting position.
Frustration has been the predominant emotion. How am I to cope with such overwhelming havoc?
Often when I am in my garden I think of the Scripture where it talks about the weeds in the wheat and that you cannot always pull the weeds out as they will damage the good plants. Sometimes one must wait to tackle them.
The world today feels like my garden. It seems like the “weeds” are winning and taking over. Discord and strife have permeated throughout society. Values today are far flung from what God states in Scripture that we should do. We live in a society that values self and serving that self with whatever it wants, no matter how bad it is for us.
I could make a long list of the troubles our world faces today. It seems insurmountable and overwhelming at times. How are we to cope when our world seems upside-down?
Paul has some thoughts for us in Philippians:
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” (Philippians 2:14-16a NIV)
As I would frequently tell my students – you cannot count on changing the behaviour of others, but you can change your own. Paul here is reminding us to do just that. We can shine like stars to those in darkness by living lives of intention.
That means leading lives centered on the Gospel. We need to live it, not just talk it. We need to purposefully consider what God wants for us in every conversation, in every action, in every desire and so on. We can be a venue for others to see the light of Truth through our joy in the Lord.
Consider what Paul talks to about in Romans:
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)
Is this an instant action? No, it is a process. By living intentionally and actively choosing to follow Jesus, who won the victory for us, we live out our lives of faith. It’s not about striving for perfection or thinking higher of ourselves than we should. It’s not trusting in our works to save us.
As this Romans verse says, it is a mind game. When our minds are focused on the Lord and His purpose for us, we have a different outlook on life and we make different choices than those in the world make.
When it came to my garden this year, I spent many days bemoaning my circumstances, feeling in victim mode. What changed for me? One day, as I took stock of my situation, I realized that God has blessed me with a beautiful garden to work in and enjoy. Yes, it is a challenging year, but I cannot change that. What I can work on is my attitude. When I started working in my garden with an attitude of praise and joy, things changed for me. The weeds didn’t disappear but the burden did.
The same is true as we face the challenging circumstances of this life. It can be quite the load as we consider how to make our way in world that is every increasingly anti-Christian. Our attitudes and actions are what is going to make the difference – both for our personal well-being and for those on whom we may shine Christ’s light.
Rather than looking at the immense mission field and the many needs, instead our focus should be on our Lord who is the true source of our peace and joy and who gives us the strength we need to go forward when things are arduous.
We don’t go into the world alone either. The importance of our Christian brothers and sisters cannot be overstated. Going back to my garden example, things changed a great deal for me when my dear husband was able to come and help me wade my way through all the garden challenges. Eradicating the weeds this year is a long process. It is definitely made better with the support of another. There is strength in numbers. On days when all the “weeds” of the world seem overwhelming, remember we have a Christian community to walk alongside us.
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