Weeds

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:14.15 (NIV)

I'm no gardener; not a green bone or drop of blood in my body, thumb or otherwise, but even I know that weeds are no good for a garden. So when the flower bed in front of our house got about knee high I decided it was time I had to do something

My task seemed to be going well until I turned and looked back at my progress. While I had removed most of the weeds, there were dozens of little, tiny sprouts left just poking through the soil. There were also some that I had grasped at the ground level but still left the roots deep in the soil when I pulled on them. Still, I kept going until I encountered a snake, and decided to let my husband finish the weeding!

Later I came out to check on him and found he had taken the hose and soaked the soil before he began. Two weeks later the evidence was clear; my area was once again full of weeds, while his was blooming flowers.

I've found forgiveness to be a lot like that flower bed. When we try to pull out the weeds of pain inflicted on us by others we often leave the root of the problem deep within the soil. Left un-dealt with those wounds will begin to fester and grow as surely as those roots left in the soil grew back to crowd out the flowers. But if we soak our lives with the word of God it softens the soil for God to remove those things which have wounded us and are choking out the blossoms of His grace and mercy that He so wants to see bloom in our lives.

Father God, You are the Author of forgiveness. It is Your forgiveness of us that enables us to forgive others. It is Your grace, Your mercy, Your love. Take control of our hearts as we yield our emotions to You and allow us to pour out these blessings to others that Your name might be honored and glorified. Amen.

Missy Horsfall