Garden of Weedin' -- life lessons learned in a garden by Mary Folkerts

 

From the fresh days of spring through the hot sticky heat of summer to the golden hues of fall, you can find me outside in my gardens. I combat mosquitoes, heat, and wind in the short but intense months of gardening, but my biggest nemesis is weeds. Most summer days, you can find me kneeling in my flower beds, slathered in bug spray, pulling weeds. It seems as soon as I finish one bed, I start the process again. The job is unending!

They say an author should research or become familiar with the topic they want to write about. Perhaps another way of thinking would be to write about what you are already immersed in. In my case, it’s gardening and, in particular, removing weeds!

To me, weeds depict all the things in life that slip us up or hinder our spiritual growth, otherwise known as sin. 

Here are some things I’ve learned about weeds. 

1. You have to remove weeds for a garden to flourish.

If you have neighbours that can see over the fence into your garden, you may want to remove the weeds for the sake of appearance. A weed-free garden is much more pleasing to the eye, but we wouldn’t be removing them for others, would we? (Check!) True gardeners keep a clean garden for the health of the plants they nurture. Weeds can quickly choke out the young bean plants as they vie for nutrients. 

So it is with our spiritual life. Sin left unchecked chokes out the health of our life in Christ. It’s hard to pray when sin stands between me and God. 

2. Waiting too long to pull the weed can lead to a plethora of more weeds.

Weeds are unwanted plants that also produce flowers if left unchecked. And when that flower dies, its seeds scatter across the garden, creating more of its kind! 

Sin left unchecked leads to more sin. We get comfortable in our state, not even realizing that sin is taking over the soil of our soul. 

3. You need to get the root. 

Cutting off the top of a weed will disrupt its growth for a while, but it will come back as the root is still intact. To ensure its proper removal, you must get the root.

Sin has deep roots, wrapping itself around the heart. It’s hard to eradicate, and only with the help of our Saviour Jesus, can we find strength and wisdom to do the hard work of deep digging necessary for removal. Behaviour modification is not the same as deep digging. 

4. You need to create barriers to keep weeds from establishing. 

Barriers, such as landscape fabric or mulch, inhibit weeds from being able to sprout.

We need boundaries and systems in place to help us in our spiritual life. We can never be too confident in our own abilities to keep sin at bay. Sin is deceptive, and Satan cunning. It is essential to have a Christian community and friends that hold us accountable. We cannot let the seed of sin germinate, or before we know it, it has established itself in our garden.  

5. Sometimes, quick action is better than perfect technique. 

Waiting for enough time to do a job correctly isn’t always the right thing to do. Sometimes that flowering weed just needs to be snipped so it doesn’t shed its seeds. True, you didn’t get the root, and the plant isn’t gone, but at least the seeds can’t do further damage. 

There may be things that need a quick removal from our life. You may need to return for deeper root digging at some point, but the quick snipping of the flowering sin is most important at the present. 

And these are some things I think as I push my knife into the dirt, loosen the soil around the roots, and throw another weed into my bucket. 

What are you currently immersed in? How can God use it to reveal Himself to you as He paints word pictures for you from your everyday life? 

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a Proverbs 31 ministries COMPEL Writers Training member and is involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s personal blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the small things https://maryfolkerts.com/  

Life Lessons Learned Through Having Cancer by Lynn Dove

No one likes those valley experiences.  We want to stay on the mountaintop and bask in the sunshine or Sonshine as some may call it.  The thing is, I tend to learn the most life-changing lessons not on the mountaintop but down deep in the valley.  Look at Psalm 23, particularly verse 4. 

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

The Lord is with me always, but it is in those valley experiences, I cling to Him for survival!  On my own strength, I would not be able to get through those dark valleys, and I learn the greatest life lessons during those most challenging times.  

In 2001, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  My mother had passed away from the disease in 1990 and I felt a great sense of foreboding at my initial diagnosis.  I had two young children and a teenager, and I cried out to God about the unfairness of this situation not just for me but for my husband and children.  How could He allow this to happen to us?  Fear and trepidation threatened to overwhelm me until God began to reveal a greater plan and purpose for me and my family through this experience with cancer. 

The first life lesson I learned quickly was that I was not alone.  God never leaves or forsakes us during crisis times. (Deuteronomy 31:6)  I experienced His Presence profoundly throughout my cancer journey.  God's Word was a constant Source of comfort and encouragement.  I was surrounded by an amazing support system of family, friends and church family.  People poured themselves out in service to my family and to my own specific needs.  The freezer was filled with food, the house was regularly cleaned, my children were looked after, and when I was too weak from chemotherapy treatments to attend church, the Worship team came to my house for a private time of worship!  

The next life lesson I embraced was that God did not want me to "waste" this experience.  John Piper wrote an article I read and took to heart about 10 ways to waste your cancer.  If God had purposed that I go through this experience, I knew He would be glorified in it.  God gave me the strength and wherewithal to face the surgeries, and chemo treatments with as positive an attitude as I could muster.  This allowed my young children to not be fearful and we could talk openly and honestly about cancer and about how God was good no matter what was happening to me.  I prayed with my surgeons and nurses, and had opportunities to share my faith with them.  When I joined a women's support group for those going through breast cancer, I prayed for those precious women who were in the throes of battle with me.  I have had numerous opportunities then and now to share my journey with cancer either through writing about it, or speaking about it.  In a 9 part series on my personal blog, "Journey Thoughts", I wrote about my cancer journey about what it means to be a "Thriver", because that is exactly how God changed my entire perspective about surviving to thriving through cancer.

Lastly, I do not take for granted the time God has given me this side of Heaven.  I would not wish cancer on anyone, nor would I like to go through that journey again.  That said, I praise God for healing me and allowing me the opportunity to experience Him in ways I never would have had it not been for cancer.  I pray I did not "waste" cancer, but used that valley experience to draw closer to God, to point others to God, and to always remember the life lessons that He taught me along the way.

Lynn Dove is the award-winning author, of the YA “Wounded Trilogy”- a contemporary Christian fiction series with coming-of-age themes.  A wife, mom, grandmother, and free-lance writer with articles published in several magazines and anthologies including Chicken Soup for the Soul books, her blog, “Journey Thoughts” is a Canadian Christian Writing Award winner.  Readers may connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and at lynndove.com 

From Typecast to Fresh by Bobbi Junior

"How do I keep my writing fresh" is a timely question because I haven't been feeling fresh at all. Static might be a better word, to be honest.  You see, I wrote a book called “The Reluctant Caregiver”. It won an award. It was published. It’s opened up all sorts of opportunities. And all of them are based on caregiving.

But I’m tired of caregiving! After years of caring for my daughter, a quadriplegic (now an independent adult, thank you, Lord!), followed caring for my mother who passed away after several years battling dementia, I’m finally released from the caregiver role. 

And what happens? Everyone wants me to write about it, speak about it, share about it, even sit on an Advisory committee about it.

First I burned out from caregiving!

Now I’m burning out from sharing about the burnout!

“Lord,” I pouted, “I’m tired of this. I feel like an actor who’s been typecast in one role, and no one sees me as anything else.”

I’m not sure how to explain it, but the Lord answered me, loud and clear. “I’ve spent fifteen years teaching you, supporting you, and maturing you through caregiving. Did your prayer to be used by me mean nothing?”

Gulp.

Time for metanoia. (Defn: a change in one's way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.)

With sincere apologies to the Lord, I did an about-face.

I began to look on these opportunities as a privilege. I made a conscious choice to embrace them.

Still, I need to stay fresh. I need to write on other topics so I don’t feel stagnant.

My blog provides a weekly outlet. There, I can write about any topic I want, and I do. Sometimes the rebel in me rises up and I post words that I know will rub a few folk the wrong way. Other times I don’t feel like dealing with contradictory comments, so I hold back. But those pieces get posted eventually!

The Writer's Cafe in action

Another way I stay fresh is through The Writers’ Cafe, our monthly writing group. There we challenge each other with prompts and suggestions, spend time co-writing and sometimes work on assignments between meetings—none of which, I’m happy to say, have focused on caregiving.

The Lord opened my eyes to the fact that he's put a great deal of time into growing me through this one life-experience. Once I got past my 'self', I realized it's an honour to be able to share what he’s taught me.

He’s given me free rein everywhere else, though, and that’s where my fresh ideas grow. Who knows? Maybe one day the Lord will assign me a new topic. I just hope it doesn’t take fifteen years of intense labour to become an expert in that one, too!

Bobbi Junior writes narrative non-fiction through memoir.  Topics include caregiving and mental health. Bobbi’s passion is to use story to show how the Lord brings about value for our suffering. Visit Bobbi’s blog at www.bobbijunior.com or listen to ‘Not Me, Lord” each Monday on HopeStreamRadio.com. 

Bad Recipes by Brenda J Wood

My friend decided to stop baking and gave me all her recipes. Whew! What a stack.I thought all of them would be great because after, all she had them in her possession.

Sadly this was not the case. No matter what I did to tofu, my hubby would not believe it was hamburger. (Please don't send me your favourite version...it won't wash here!)

The Rocky Road bars really were rocky while the Spinach rolls were for admiration only.

Finally I figured out her system. A barely legible recipe, with sticky edges and brown blobs met "Try me. I taste good." In a very short time, I edited that recipe pile down to a few special ones and tossed the rest.

Her most spotted recipe?

Cherry Snacks

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

Crumble these ingredients together and pat into bottom of 9" square pan. Bake at 350F for 8 minutes, then mix the following ingredients and spread on the top.

2 well-beaten eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup walnuts

1/2 pound candied cherries

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup finely shredded coconut

Return to oven and bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Top with butter icing if desired.

Just like recipes, life gives us lots of opportunities. Some are worth trying at least once but too many are not worth even one experience. Only a few are really worth the money, time and effort they demand.

We've all chased a few bad recipes. Some should have been thrown out immediately because we saw others make the same mistake.

Still some of us must try.... Lesson learned the first time should be enough.

Made a mistake and tried it? Too bad. Lesson learned.

Repeated the same mistake again---and again---and again...?

Shame on us.

Brenda J Wood

http://heartfeltdevotionals.wordpress.com