(The colors of early-Spring at a nearby creek. I think I’ll call it: Young Blood and Returning to the Dust)

Who could resist the burst of warm weather this weekend?

With new work gloves on, I happily raked out the piles of leaves that hid under the winter’s snow. I cleaned out our flower bed, thinning the rock-coverings and sweeping away the debris.

My favorite moment? When I caught a couple of big weeds off guard and YANKED ‘EM OUT. This was particularly victorious for me because, you see, these weeds have been pestering me for years. Really: years. The pattern has been that they hide away until they are positively taking over the flower bed. By the time I notice them each summer, they are miniature trees and their roots are so firm, and so stubborn, and they have such a jolly sense of humor that any amount of yanking only results in uprooting me… not them. Haha.

Well, this year, the joke was on them. Because there I was, in my freshly rubber-smelling work gloves and an enthusiasm to rival the most stubborn of weeds. The dirt was loose. The weeds were starved from a long winter. The roots, weak. The plants, unsuspecting. And, to my gleeful, victorious, power-hungry surprise, those weeds – and their everlasting root systems – slipped out of that ground like butter.

So this got me thinking about the “weedy” type things in my personal life that I really don’t notice until they are creepy and encroaching and terribly strong. There’s no getting them out when they are so well-fed. But, that’s when they catch my eye and drive me nuts. It would behoove me to remove any negative behaviors when they are weak and unsuspecting – like my unlucky weeds. The only problem is, when my weaknesses are dormant, I forget about them! So, I asked God to reveal weaknesses that are dormant right now; the ones that are starved from neglect, so that I could address them and remove them more easily right now. Slip ’em out like butter.  ‘Gotta make room for the fruit, you know?

(Note: I am new to gardening. So, if these concepts have appeared in gardening devotionals for the past 200 years, I apologize for the repetition. It was profound to me; and therefore, it gets a spot on my blog.)