So for the last 2 weekends in a ROW I have challenge my body and re-train it for ongoing yard work that is upon us. Excited to see GREEN that’s for sure but not so much in and around my flower beds!! We were hit with a nasty winter which left lots of dead plants, flowers and even my Aloe Vera plants helpless! Come on my ALOE VERA PLANTS!! You don’t even need a green thumb to kill those things! I tell you what, gloves or no gloves, getting in the flower bed is not easy on the hands, back, or knees.. It’s straight up HARD wrenching non-stop work!
Give the new flowers another few weeks to get well established and I will post pics.
But you know as I was down there trimming, pulling and grunting all at the same time I began to get into my deep train of thoughts. I started to compare my life to my flower beds. Ok call me crazy but in all honestly I don’t think God could have really given me a better illustration than this. (His timing is always right)
The past lets say 3 months have been bitter sweet. Have you ever waited on tables before? You know that lovely saying “IN THE WEEDS” That feeling, that chaotic-ness, the absolute never ending question of “is it ever going to ease up?” Welup, that was me - Living life in the weeds. I am not one to complain about life, I know that in all honesty it could be worse BUT this time around – better yet at this point in my life- I had realized I was going about keeping the “weeds” out of my life in all the wrong way. Funny to think I could keep it all under control – key word here folks is I. I knew I couldn’t do it alone anymore………….
Like Roundup, or any other weed preventive you may use, I didn’t have the right formula of Roundup in my life. Although I thought I did..
I was wrong…. Really wrong!
Well I didn’t find my new kind of “Roundup” at Lowes, Wal-Mart or even online, what I found was seeking me all this time! Let me say this – as a newlywed (We will celebrate our 1 year on April 10th) I NEVER thought marriage would honestly be so HARD. Our marriage almost broke. We were talking about DIVORCE! That’s all it took, I DROPPED to my knees and I prayed like I hadn’t prayed in years!! I NEEDED Him, His guidance because I wasn’t going to give up but I couldn’t keep afloat. I was lost, scared, angry, confused- really the list could go on…. That night I gave myself BACK to the Lord. Now learning to adjust to this new transformed life isn’t easy; in fact it takes me back to my flower beds.
How could just a few months of not being active in the flower beds make it seem like I hadn’t been there all year? How could one or two bad storms really kill off everything I had planted YEARS ago? How was I going to get it back to looking normal and how long was it going to take until I didn’t have to plan weekends doing just yard work? All of those questions compared to my life- Just like a garden, my life needed maintenance, proper care, year round attention because back then it didn’t take much for the enemy to bring me down- but now with the tools He has been blessed me with I am ready to take on the “weeds”
I can tell you that these last 3 months haven’t been perfect but its peaceful now. I can face the struggles because I have learned to Trust Him. I don’t know, maybe you are readying this and have a struggle in your life, a burden you feel heavy on, maybe life has way too many weeds in your flower bed right now. I can tell you that my round-up, Jesus, He is Awesome – and he is FREE.. Listen just pray, it doesn’t have to be anything spectacular but you will be amazed at what Prayer can really do. I pray for you today that this year will be the year that you will too, step by step – landscape your garden, weed out the enemy in your flower beds and watch, feel and see the new life that WILL blossom in and around you.
To my Husband:
May our love and dedication to this marriage never wilt & may we blossom
more & more with each day
that passes.
I love you.
Our Honeymoon in Europe- Holland @ the Keukenhof Gardens
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Romans 12:2
