When I bought my house, the backyard was a paradise. The man that lived here was a retired military man that had too much time on his hands. He had this backyard pristine and amazing. It took me 3 years to bring it to my standard of living, and make it look like I live here. 3 years.
To add insult to injury, I think this man thought that he should have a totally shaded roof for the western evening sun, and planted 4.... yes four, trees in this tiny beautiful backyard. 2 bradford pears, 1 weeping willow, and a tree I'm not sure what it is called, but I called it the "Devil Tree".
This devil tree, when coming out of winter dormancy, instead of flowering beautiful little flowers to make me sneeze, would shoot off what I call, Devil Spawn. and from that Spawn........3 zillion little devil trees, shooting up all over in every conceivable place known to man.
The big ice storm of 08 took out that devil tree, and I have never been so happy to see something split in two in my LIFE. But not before it left 3 zillion liitle babies, cropping up in every flower bed in my lovely park-like backyard. I have been pulling tiny trees out of flower beds for 2 summers now. And after about a week of painful pulling (these things have devil roots) I went all Mr. T on those tiny trees and just got my snippers and cut them back to the ground...leaving them there to grow even bigger roots and make my life so much more fun this spring.
As I was pulling these devil trees this morning, and wondering how it is that I only have left hand gloves in my possession (Where do those right ones go?), I got to thinking about sin and how left unchecked, and swept under the rug, it can take root, and just ruin your beautiful garden. If left untended, and not dealt with, you can count on, it springing it's ugly, unwanted head up, right in the middle of your marigolds. You have to DEAL with it, either with counseling, or accountability, or prayer, and FIX it. Pull that dang weed OUT of the ground and be done with it for once and for all. When I say accountability, I can tell you, if my mom had been outside with me, when I was doing the snip snip to those sinful baby trees last year, she would have stopped me and said "Take the time, do it right, and be rid of them". Accountability partners in life are very necessary. They keep you from taking the easy way. And they are there to help get rid of the big stinky ones that are almost too deep to pull out of the ground by yourself.
So this year, I am enlisting slave labor (also known as Hallie and my cousin Austin), and we are beating the devil trees. It's not always easy, just like ridding your life of some of your sinful choices. I had to sacrifice one of my favorite small bushes, because the roots were so entangled with so many baby devil trees, there was no saving it, and that made me think, too...that sometimes, no matter how great you look, if you are too close to the devil trees, and they can get their roots into you...it can rob you of your existence. Don't let that happen. Examine the roots, find the devil trees, and get some help from your slave labor, your friends, your lifegroup, your family, and pull them out.
That way, when spring rolls around, all you have to do is plant the beautiful things, and the devil trees don't rob you of your time, or joy.
God is good, all the time.
To add insult to injury, I think this man thought that he should have a totally shaded roof for the western evening sun, and planted 4.... yes four, trees in this tiny beautiful backyard. 2 bradford pears, 1 weeping willow, and a tree I'm not sure what it is called, but I called it the "Devil Tree".
This devil tree, when coming out of winter dormancy, instead of flowering beautiful little flowers to make me sneeze, would shoot off what I call, Devil Spawn. and from that Spawn........3 zillion little devil trees, shooting up all over in every conceivable place known to man.
The big ice storm of 08 took out that devil tree, and I have never been so happy to see something split in two in my LIFE. But not before it left 3 zillion liitle babies, cropping up in every flower bed in my lovely park-like backyard. I have been pulling tiny trees out of flower beds for 2 summers now. And after about a week of painful pulling (these things have devil roots) I went all Mr. T on those tiny trees and just got my snippers and cut them back to the ground...leaving them there to grow even bigger roots and make my life so much more fun this spring.
As I was pulling these devil trees this morning, and wondering how it is that I only have left hand gloves in my possession (Where do those right ones go?), I got to thinking about sin and how left unchecked, and swept under the rug, it can take root, and just ruin your beautiful garden. If left untended, and not dealt with, you can count on, it springing it's ugly, unwanted head up, right in the middle of your marigolds. You have to DEAL with it, either with counseling, or accountability, or prayer, and FIX it. Pull that dang weed OUT of the ground and be done with it for once and for all. When I say accountability, I can tell you, if my mom had been outside with me, when I was doing the snip snip to those sinful baby trees last year, she would have stopped me and said "Take the time, do it right, and be rid of them". Accountability partners in life are very necessary. They keep you from taking the easy way. And they are there to help get rid of the big stinky ones that are almost too deep to pull out of the ground by yourself.
So this year, I am enlisting slave labor (also known as Hallie and my cousin Austin), and we are beating the devil trees. It's not always easy, just like ridding your life of some of your sinful choices. I had to sacrifice one of my favorite small bushes, because the roots were so entangled with so many baby devil trees, there was no saving it, and that made me think, too...that sometimes, no matter how great you look, if you are too close to the devil trees, and they can get their roots into you...it can rob you of your existence. Don't let that happen. Examine the roots, find the devil trees, and get some help from your slave labor, your friends, your lifegroup, your family, and pull them out.
That way, when spring rolls around, all you have to do is plant the beautiful things, and the devil trees don't rob you of your time, or joy.
God is good, all the time.
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