Patience

Pulling Weeds

https://gingersnaps.wordpress.com1 Comment
Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

I admit, I am not a gardener. I do not have a green thumb. And I am not one to spend days in a garden planting and weeding. As a matter of fact, I generally plant and weed in the early spring and expect the garden to remain in good shape throughout the summer.  

The other day, however, I spent 6 hours in just one garden area of my backyard weeding and mulching. Believe it or not, I had actually weeded this area in early spring. The problem was I had never covered it with mulch, leaving it to fend for itself.  A big mistake. Soil, sunlight and plenty of rain promotes growth. What grew were weeds. Wow, did they flourish! This caused the garden to look like chaos and choked out the the desirable plants.

I know that if I had covered this area in mulch and tended to it, it would have remained a beautiful area. A protective layer of mulch and a commitment to nurture this garden would have kept the weeds at bay.

What about the “weeds” in our life? You know, things like selfishness, worry, busyness, chasing wealth, trying to please others, gossip, hurt, insecurities, addictions, distractions and so many more.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes a weed like this: a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth. One that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants.

We allow these types of weeds to spring up in our life (our garden) all the time. We ignore them, and they flourish. Eventually, they have us gripped so tight. Choking our joy. Creating chaos in our lives.  

We pull them. And everything is fine.

Or is it?

Have you ever pulled weeds only to see them grow back thicker the next time? Choking out the desirable plants, or in life…fruit of the spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

Why do you suppose that is?

I have found that in my life, I can’t just pull the weeds and forget about them. I need to ask God to cover each situation I am dealing with, with grace and mercy. And I must commit to nurturing my garden, not neglect it. If I don’t, the weed will slowly find a way to creep back in and take over. That’s what weeds do.

How many times have you pulled “weeds” out of your life? Do you find yourself pulling the same ones over and over? Ask God to cover the situation in a protective layer of mulch, “grace and mercy”, and then be sure to nurture your garden.

Beautiful gardens do not grow naturally. Weeds do!

Follow the Leader

https://gingersnaps.wordpress.com1 Comment

“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.” ~ Helen Keller

How many times did you play “Follow the Leader” when you were a child? Probably too many to count. One person got to be the leader, everybody else had to be the followers. If the leader walked like a duck, everybody walked like a duck. If the leader hopped like a bunny, everybody hopped like a bunny. You get the picture.

The other day, my friend Deb and I were out walking in the early morning. We took the same 3.5 mile loop that we have walked for years. The final leg goes through the woods down to the James River. As we were walking along the path, we were surprised to hear a “meow”.

We have seen squirrels, deer, chipmunks, skunks and other wildlife in the past, but never a cat in the woods. As we stopped to see where the sound was coming from, a tiny black fluffy kitten came running over to us. He could not have been more than a few weeks old. He was not shy at all. I bent over to pet the kitten only to see another little guy peek out from under the same tree. He would not come near us though.

Not sure what to do with these two kittens (neither of us are cat people), we continued or tried to continue walking. We figured we would call animal control when we got home. The little black kitten had a different idea. He was not going to wait around for his mom to come back and decided to follow us. Hopping along side of us weaving in and out of our legs.

Because we were tripping over him, we stopped. As we did, we heard another “meow”. Much to our surprise an entire litter was there. Eight more kittens came out from under the brush. We were surrounded.

Once the black kitten was back with all of his siblings, he stopped following us. Maybe the others convinced him he should be waiting for mama cat to return.

When I got home, I looked up information on “what to do when you find kittens in the wild”. The very first answer was to leave them be. There was a good chance the mother cat was only gone for a short time and would be returning.

This made me think of how often we play a game of Follow the Leader as adults. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are always following something or someone. Is it God we are following? Something else? Someone else?

Have you ever asked God for anything? Intervention in a situation, healing, direction. You pray about it, ask for direction, and wait. But when you think you’ve waited long enough and he hasn’t answered, you decide to take matters into your own hands.

I felt like that is what that kitten was doing the other day. His mama had left the home and he was tired of waiting. So he was ready to follow the first thing that came along.

We all know God can answer in various ways. The resounding YES! The devastating NO. Or even the “wait”. It is during the times of waiting that some of us find it hard to believe God is going to answer us. We take off following something, anything in desperation.

We follow our greed, putting ourselves into debt. We follow our pride, destroying relationships with friends and family. We follow the culture, justifying things we know aren’t right. Whatever it is that we choose to follow, we still come up empty. 

In Galatians 5:17, Paul reminds us, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

If we choose to follow God and wait patiently for His answer, we will have the blessing of walking through every situation with the comfort and peace of knowing that God keeps his promises.

Who will you choose to follow today?

Side Note: As I wrote the rough draft of this blog, I couldn’t quite get it to flow. I decided not to work on it any more and to discard it. The very next morning when I sat down for my quiet time, I opened my devotional book. The title of that very day’s devotion was “Follow the Leader”. I knew then that I was to finish this blog post.

Walking in the Warmth of the Sun

https://gingersnaps.wordpress.comLeave a comment

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” ~Frederick Douglass

Anybody who knows me, knows that my preferred form of exercise is walking. I love to walk outside early in the morning. Often before the sun is even up. This is great in the spring, summer and fall months. But when the winter rolls in, it is impossible for me to get myself up early to walk. I will not go outside in the cold darkness. I find it unbearable.

I haven’t really had to worry about that the past several years, as Kurt and I have been blessed to spend our winters in South Africa. And because January, February, and March is summer in South Africa, I have been able to carry on with my morning walking routine.

This year, however, I made the decision not to return to South Africa. This means I will have to figure out how to deal with the winter months. I can assure you I will not get out of bed in the dark and cold of morning to go for a walk. Does that mean walking is off the table for the winter? Will I allow the dark, cold mornings to take away my joy of walking?

No. You see, what I have noticed is that regardless of the cold temperatures, if I just hang in there and wait until the sun comes out, what is unbearable in the dark becomes bearable in the light. Once the sun hits my face, a warmth comes over me that I cannot feel in the dark.

There are times in our life that feel cold and dark. Bad results from a health test. Turmoil in a relationship. Termination from a job. Financial crisis. A wayward child. Death of a loved one. So many things can leave us feeling scared, lost, sad. It can be a cold, dark place. One that is unbearable to us.

The good news is, the sun always rises! Just hang in there and wait. Then bask in its warm rays… A verse of scripture. Kind words from a friend. An unexpected phone call. New opportunities. A warm day in the middle of winter.

Does this mean all of our problems will go away? No. But it does mean we don’t have to walk in darkness. In John 8:12, Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  In other words, those who walk in the light have a presence of God inside of them.

Can you feel it now? The warmth of the Light.