You are not pretty and you don’t belong here.

These would be really harsh words if I were talking to a person. But I am saying them to weeds in my front yard.

Sometimes several days go by when I don’t notice the front entrance to our home. This is because I typically enter through the door inside the garage.

But, because we have guests at least a few times a month and they enter the front en they door, I want it to be welcoming and look nice, so I garden every couple of weeks…

For the most part, the plants in our yard are easy to take care of and not elaborate. Maybe that’s why the ugly uninvited weeds look so bad when they inevitably show up. I hate them because they are growing all proud and strong like – I’m cute. But they are Not!  They are not pretty and they don’t belong.

I was recently having this discourse with myself and realized that I sometimes have thoughts like the weeds. They are not pretty and don’t belong. Sometimes they are ugly because I am judging someone else or being a hypocrite. Sometimes they are ugly and full of self-pity, which keeps me stuck in bad behavior. They don’t belong because they are not consistent with my faith in Christ.

By His grace, when I ask Him, He takes a divine trowel and digs up the nasty thought weed. He puts down a version of “Preen Weed Preventer” so they don’t grow back as fast. He can do the same thing with any kind of sin. He can do it with anything that keeps us away from Him. Though the weeds are unattractive and create work, I’m grateful that God is using them to help me grow in Him.