Yard Work of the Soul

   

      
     Today began with a simple plan: mow the yard. The push mower had other plans when it refused to start. Because it was a nice day out, I decided to tackle the weeds. As I was pulling weeds and tending to the yard, I had some thoughts about how our soul is like a garden. The sins are like weeds, blooming flowers and bushes like fruits of the Spirit, and the yard work like the process of preparing the ground or tending to the ground for new plants or the removal of life-threatening weeds.

Prune the Bushes: I’ve recently discovered the beauty of the azalea bushes in my front yard, as I moved in after they had already finished blooming. When reading online about how to care for bushes, the plant experts say that you should remove dead or diseased branches so that it will increase the health of the other branches. Some good things in our life need to be pruned so that they do not grow out of control. There are some good things in our life: money, work, relationships, social media that need to be pruned. If these good things are left unchecked, they could destabilize our lives. These at one time good things could steal away nutrients from other more important parts of our heart. In the tree and the vine example in John 15, Jesus says, Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. It seems counter productive to cut away growing branches, but the result will be the abundance of fruit.

Know What a Weed Looks Like: Weeds don’t always look so terrible. Sometimes, they look quite pretty and harmless. Sin doesn’t always look like sin. Sometimes sin has the appearance of a beautiful flower, but we should not be deceived. When we know what a weed is and know how to identify it, we will know when we see one start to establish its home in our hearts. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says to Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.. When we are aware of what schemes the Devil may be up to and what our weaknesses are, we can more easily spot them when they appear.

Pull the Weeds: One of my big projects was to tackle the stubborn weeds that have begun climbing up the fence in my yard. This area of my yard has been weed eated (whacked…whatever verb you use ;) before, but because the weeds were not removed by the root, they continued to grow. After weed eating, it appears that the weeds are gone, but it is a false sense of hope. When you pull the weeds up from the ground, it is sometimes hard to get to the root. We have to deal with sin patterns in our heart so that God can come in and let good life-giving fruits grow. The ground has to be maintained or what was clear ground would once again be taken over by weeds. In the same way, we must continually keep inventory of the things we are allowing to take root in our souls. The stems of the weed will tangle all around your heart and make it very difficult to tell what is truth and what is a lie. When it is pulled up, we must get the sin as far away from us. If we let the sin stay close to us, it will take root, again. Once I had filled my trash can full of weeds, I began hauling it away. The weight of the weeds made my muscles ache, but I could feel myself getting stronger. Job 17:9 speaks of the result of letting go of sinful patterns-the righteous shall move onward and forward; those with pure hearts shall become stronger and stronger. When we allow God to deal with the sin in our hearts, it may hurt. The result will be strength that comes from God.

Maintain the Gaden of Your Soul: To maintain a garden, you have to take care of it. You have to regularly pull weeds, till the ground, water the ground, prune the bushes. In our Christian walk, we must constantly take inventory of the condition of our soul. We must be aware of the areas that need water, the areas that need pruning, and the areas that need to be uprooted. If we do not tend to our souls condition, it will turn out as King Solomon saw in Proverbs 24: 30-34

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little of the folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

This passage speaks of a man who was not aware of the condition of his soul and the weeds of lies and destruction overtook him. When we see this sort of destruction that un-kept souls can cause, we should be prompted to keep constant care over our souls.

            We need to stay attention to the expert gardener, Jesus. He will instruct us with wisdom on how to care for the garden of our soul. We need to allow Him that access to our souls so that He can produce fruits and beautiful flowering plants. His Word gives life to those who put their trust in Him.  

The Problem With "The One"

"Have you found the one?" "Do you think he's the one?" "I think I've found the one for you." Every time I hear someone speak about finding “the one”, I inwardly cringe. From the time I was in middle school, I was lead to believe that there was this one guy who God had planned for me. Now, at 25 and still single, I wish that conversation had not been so ingrained in my head. I don’t believe there is such a thing as “the one”. Here are some reasons why I think we should stop talking about “the one”:

The idea of a soul mate or “other half” comes from Greek mythology. Part of the myth includes the idea that humans were split in half and lived their life in pursuit of their other half of their soul. If this ideology were true, we would be absolutely miserable if we did not find our other half. There would be no chance for purposeful living if purpose were contingent on finding another person to complete us. Also, what if that one person marries someone else? What if “the one” picks another one? There are too many “what ifs” for this way of thinking.

If we believe that there is only one possible person out there for us to marry, it also points to distrust in God’s sovereignty. In Christ, we are complete. Colossians 2:10 says we are “complete through [our] union with Christ.” If we have a relationship with Christ, we have enough. Christ + nothing=everything. This equation gives us no need for something extra to make us fulfilled, while on this Earth. God does not give us relationships because we need them; He gives them to us because they can be a tool to point others or us to the love of Jesus. 1 John 4:12 says that while no one has seen God, “if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” This can apply to any type of human relationship: family, friend, dating, marriage. Whether in a season of having a romantic relationship or not, we should be able to say “Jesus, you are more than enough for me.”

The idea of "the one" will prove fallible when this "one" starts acting less dreamy than he did initially. We have bought into this lie that if we find our soulmate, we will have no problems in dating or marriage. As human, fallible, sinful beings, we are going to have problems in dating or marriage. Both parties are going to mess up, say the wrong thing, and hurt the other person. With the idea that there is only one person for us, we may run out on the relationship. We may think we have made the wrong choice and need to find the better one for us. Once you are in covenant marriage with another person, they are your only one for your life. Mark 10:9 says, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." We can fall in love with someone and all roads are pointing to them being perfect for us. Later when all walls are down and they start acting like their human-natured self, suddenly we think we must have made a mistake. If the person we choose is pursuing God with his whole heart and you have confirmation that he is trusting in God, then you choose love. Falling in love feelings fade, but the choice to love someone is a daily denial of self and surrender to a better plan God has for you.

When our focus is on finding “the one”, we stop working on ourselves. “The one” becomes an idol of our hearts. We begin pursuing this fantasy of finding "the one". Instead of focusing on finding “the one”, Steven Furtick says we should focus on “being the one”. We put so much energy and thought on this idea of this imaginary person that we forget that a real active God is in the process of pursuing us. He is making us into the woman of God that He wants us to be. 2 Corinthians 5:17 speaks of the new creation we are when we are in Christ. As a new creation, we are continually learning how to walk, talk, and behave in light of this new life.

God is putting new passions, goals, and attitudes in our hearts, as we yield our hearts to Him. We ought to pray that whoever is in our path would be able to see the work God is doing in our hearts. We should be praying that others can see that God is truly more than enough for us.