weeds.

this past fall, i moved into a wonderful charming house in a new-to-me neighborhood.
along with my new home came another learning hill to climb: ye grand ol' American tradition known as 'yardwork.'

the previous owner had diligently tended to her garden, & after her passing, her neighbor took over maintaining the green-space.
now, as the sole tenants, it was our turn.
the thought of letting nature have her way with our yard seemed to me less like a surrender & more like blasphemy in light of all the care that these women had taken to preserve it, so i set out to master the trade.

first, i needed to answer the most pressing question for a clueless beginner... what belongs?!
i felt confident in my ability to kill plants, but i was afraid to kill the wrong ones!
thankfully, my friend Marie came by to offer me some pointers.

"help! what of this stuff is a weed? 

what is good & what is bad?" 

i desperately pleaded for direction.

i had hoped that the answers would be black & white:

"that's bad. pull that. that's good; leave it."

but to my surprise, i learned that even weeding isn't so simple.

although there are some plants that are fairly universally recognized as bad in a plot (i.e. dandelions),

there are also a hefty collection of plants that fall into the gray area. 

many of the flora that start out planted & welcomed become problematic when they intrude on the livelihood of other wanted plants. they are not always called weeds, but they can act just as damagingly. other things that grow are just straight up intrusive in nature, & they require extra supervision to prevent them from a hostile takeover. ultimately, the plant itself is not inherently bad, but even good things growing out of place must be pruned.

unfortunately, the weeds in my garden are not the only intruders in my life. i've sensed a thinness of resources lately, & i'm certain that a part of that drought is the result of desires & aspects of my life that are out of place & draining energy from what could be growing.
i want to see an abundance of fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.
instead of a bounty of good fruit, though, my heart & mind are crowded with weeds of all sorts. some of those weeds are fruitless distractions, squelching my ability to water the good things. other 'weeds' are perfectly good desires that i have no power to fulfill, & i need them to be surrendered, uprooted, & transplanted from my devotions.

essentially, for good things to grow, i have to prioritize. 
if i want a life full of good fruits, i must pay attention, because plenty of other seeds are waiting to sneak in & crowd my mental & emotional capacity.

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gardening has become to me a new book; 

as i peer into these initial pages, i find written long-standing truths of my own nature. 

i look forward to unfurling fresh reflections, but first i have to dig in to this one & make space for growth. so with that, farewell & to work! 

come garden with me?

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"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23

"I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful... No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." - John 15:1-2, 4-5

"For the Lord comforts Zion; He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song." - Isaiah 51:3

"And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." - Isaiah 58:11

"But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 'See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that You may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.'" - Deuteronomy 30:14-20