Building Character Like Pulling Weeds

Yesterday I was pulling weeds in our garden with the help of my little 2 year old grandson. It has been easy to teach him which plants are weeds and which are not. So together we got most of them pulled and most were pretty small. But there was one particularly stubborn weed near the garden that took a lot of effort, help from a shovel and muscle power to pull. When we got it out I pointed out to him how long the root was and that it was the deep, long root that made it so difficult to pull out. He found it very interesting.

Then this morning as I was praying for him, the Lord began to speak to me about weeds. They are so much easier to pull out when they are tiny, just like it is so much easier to nip bad habits in the bud when they are just beginning. During this young, fresh stage in his life, character can be formed and bad character (weeds) can easily be dealt with.

Even for those of us who are already adults, there is still hope if we allow our heavenly Father to use His shovel to dig the "weeds" out of our lives.

I observed one other thing in my garden yesterday. Where the plants have grown up thick and lush, it is impossible for the weeds to grow. The ground is cool, moist and shaded and the crops are abundant. In fact, I'm not sure how we're going to eat all the kale, broccoli, collards, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers we have planted this year! They are abundant. How I would like my life to be like that! How I would love my children's and grandchildren's lives to be like that - bringing life and abundance into the world around us.

Let's let the heavenly gardener do His job of weeding, making room for His character to bloom and touch and enrich many lives.