Children are a wonderful gift. But if we didn’t teach them, train them, and raise them up, they would be such a mess, right? The dirt under the fingernails, the nail biting, nose picking, sugar eating, tv binging, dirty socks, stinky breath, and did you change your underwear today?
Without mama, who would they be? Would they just voluntarily share toys with their friends, or snacks with siblings? Would they ever pause to take a nap or go to bed on time? Would they eat apples or drink a drop of water? Would they ever turn off their tablets, would they ever play outside on purpose, would they ever wear shoes? Would they join in with bullies, would they choose kind friends? Would they keep a schedule, would they get on the bus? Would they ever look before they cross? Would they demonstrate any self discipline, self restraint, self control? Would they ever wash their hands? No! They’re children who need parented, they need boundaries and caution tape and vitamins and a healthy dose of prayer coverage.
They don’t know that so many things over time can hurt them. They only know that changing any of it, is work.
We know though, that too much screen time, too much sugar, too many germs and selfish attitudes, will over time, start to do some real damage. Like unwanted weeds in a healthy garden, these little behaviors and habits will creep up and strangle all the goodness.
No one likes to weed. Everyone wants to harvest, but no one wants to weed.
Have you ever kept a garden and had the kids chip in? Oh they love harvesting. They love picking the biggest cucumber, they love pulling the beans and finding the newest treasures. They love running inside to show off to daddy what we found, what we grew, what we picked. The harvest is a great time.
But pulling weeds, pulling weeds is never fun.
It is our responsibility, to teach them how to identify the weeds in their little hearts, the weeds in their daily routines, in their behaviors and disciplines. It is our job to point them out, and teach them how to pull them up. It is our job, to teach them, to surrender the weeds, in preparation for the good stuff. It is our responsibility to constantly point them to the pruner, the one who makes new all that we surrender.
It is equally important, friends, to surrender our own weeds, to demonstrate to them what it looks like to detox and keep our lives free from entanglement.
Some of us held on tight to poor habits, disciplines, thought processes, patterns and behaviors from childhood, some of us picked them up along the way to cope with the stresses of adulthood. Some of us adopted them from friends, or spouses, some of us just testing them out, to see if they’re not really that bad.
Weeds come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them look good enough to keep. My four year old picked dandelions for me twice this week. They don’t look so bad, but over time, boy those suckers can do some damage.
I can not name your weeds for you. Only you know what you’re allowing to grow out of order, only you know what needs pulling.
For me, part of my detox process last year was pulling weeds. I had a lot of weeds. So many small little things that were ruining me, slowly killing the life that wanted to spring forth.
Pray and ask God to lead you, to identify your weeds and begin pruning, begin pulling. Some of them are little, small tweaks and small victories. Some of them will require digging up roots, some of them will require wearing some protective gloves. Get your people around you, let someone know what weeds you need pulled, and don’t be afraid to sweat it out.
I can not name your weeds, but I can name freedom. Freedom is the same for all.
I can tell you, as I stand here today, shovel in hand, the weeds, a pile under my feet, the freedom is worth it. All day long.
Go, pull some weeds today. Show the world, what it looks like to live free.
I’ll be over here, pulling our own.
homestead heart 