Yardwork in My Mind

Every time I work in the yard, I am brought back to the correlation between our spiritual lives and horticulture.  I understand why Jesus used agricultural analogies so often in His parables. 

Today, as I was pulling out weeds I paused as I reached out for one.  I was hesitant because I wasn't sure if it was a weed or a plant I would like to keep.  Let me explain further.  I live in Southern Nevada, where many plants "blow" into our yard.  Some are beautiful and useful, like the tree we know have growing in our front yard.  Others are not, like the crab grass that I am consistently battling.

Over the years, I have planted numerous flowering plants that didn't make it.  This is a desert climate and only the heartiest of plant life survive.  Although, the mature plant died, in it's death seeds were dropped into the soil which tend to come up later, sometimes years later, as the offspring of the original. 

So today, my hesitation stemmed from my wondering was this an offspring of what I wanted or what I was trying to get rid of?

As I thought about this, it occurred to me that my thought life has, in many ways, the same dilemma.  As thoughts come up I have to determine to keep them or pluck them out.  So many times though, the thought as it is just forming is difficult to determine if it is good or bad because in the beginning they look very much alike.  Just as the weeds look like a keeper at first, but as it grows I realize it was a sleeper agent.  Fooling me into believing in the interim that it was going to enhance my psychological and emotional landscape.

It is so difficult to tell the difference, at first.  When I'm really unsure, I'll go look it up and see what I have going on.  By the same token, I must do the same thing with my thoughts.  When I'm unsure as to if it is good or bad, an encourager or a discourager I need to turn to the Authority.  I take the thought and compare it to His word, if it fits I keep it if not I pluck it and chuck it.

When I pluck negative thoughts from my mind, I can't keep them in a jar somewhere.  I have to through them away like the weeds from my yard.  Bag them up and cart them off to the dump, where they belong.  In actuality they are nothing more than garbage.  Also, if I don't get them out they will start to choke the positive thoughts that God has given me, just like a weed.

When Jesus spoke of the parable of the four soils in Luke 8:5-8, this is exactly what He was talking about.  The various soils represent the states our minds can be in. 

The seed that falls along the path and is trampled, is a mind set that is so caught up in getting where its going way it doesn't have time to stop and let the seed in.  It spiritually tramples the truth of His word underfoot with double dealing and willingness to do anything to get ahead. It listens to Satan and his lies about how success is achieved in life and acts upon it.  Subsequently, God's word is crushed beneath the unbelief and supposed self-reliance.

The seed that falls among the rocks is a mind set of willingness to believe, at first.  As long as it is easy.  When the trials and tribulations come, that James book states we should count as pure joy, this mind counts it as overwhelming torture.  It believes the lies of Satan that tell it, Jesus and God lied to them and there is no truth to what it first believed, otherwise these things wouldn't be happening.  This thought life soon turns to the previous way as the seed of truth is stolen, and they try to do things on their own.

The seed that falls among the thorns is a mind set that is unwilling to sacrifice all for Christ.  Worry is it's constant companion because it is trying to determine how to hold on to everything it has while serving the Lord.  Unwilling to seek first the Kingdom, day by day the thoughts go first to what is going on in life and God gets pushed further and further into the background, until He is the foundation of their life walk but not the reason.  Study of God and His will for life is not a priority, this mind never becomes useful for growing more Christians because the weeds of negativity are never plucked from this garden.

The seed that falls on good soil is a mind set that puts God first, no matter what.  This mind is willing to let go of all that it possess to possess Christ.  It regularly weeds its garden by reading and studying and hearing the Word of God.  Thoughts that are not in line with what it is learning are plucked and discarded.  This mind is able to reach other minds and help them grow into what God created them to be, while becoming itself what He had in mind. (No pun intended)

So you see, Jesus used parables that spoke to tending the soil because our minds are like soil.  What we plant in them is what grows.  The only way to keep ugliness from growing is to have a regular schedule of weeding and pruning so that the thought life flourishes and spreads out its positive seeds to other fertile soil.

Heavenly Father,
Thank You for speaking to us in ways that we are able to understand.  For letting us see the correlation between the natural world around us, and how you created us to think and be.  We love You for Your willingness to do what ever it takes to get through to us.  Thank You for Your patience, mercy, grace, and loving kindness to a species that does not deserve it.  Please, continue to show us the truth of Your word around us, and how to implement it on a daily basis.

In Jesus name,
Amen