Weed Be Gone

While walking the other day, I giggled when I looked down at the sidewalk. This particular sidewalk was around a vacant lot. It was cracked, but you couldn't really see the cracks because they were filled with weeds.I was just hoping I wouldn't trip over them. As your Daddy knows, it takes a lot for me to just walk over those weeds and not just start yanking them out or at least running to grab my weed sprayer to kill them. It reminds me of that quote in the movie Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum's character warns the dinosaur geneticists, "Life finds a way." If there is a crack in the ground, weeds will grow. They always do.

It's the same with our lives. If there is even the slightest crack in our spiritual armor, weeds will grow. And if you continue to let them grow, they get even worse. For example, that one cuss word you utter. Just that one, opens the door for others to flow through. That one little white lie can lead to many, many more. Gossiping a little leads to gossiping a lot. Satan is desperately looking to get a foot hold (Ephesians 4:27). He is prowling, Peter tells us, like a lion looking to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8)

There is a reason why Paul uses armor as an example of our spiritual life in Ephesians 6. Armor for the warrior covers all the vulnerable parts that could lead to death: head, heart, internal organs, sometimes even the full body like arms and legs of medieval knights (I chuckle thinking of them trying to walk). But there are weaknesses even in those full body armor suits. Necks, under the arms, behind the knees. Wherever there's a crack, that is where the archers would aim. Satan, too, is looking for the cracks. So Paul warns us to have the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shield of faith and good news shoes on while holding the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Salvation, righteousness, truth, faith, the Word ... that is our armor! And we must be fully covered to be fully safe.

My dear children, know that every single day Satan is looking for your weaknesses. Every. Single. Day. How can he pull you from the Father? How can he get you to fail? Even just a little, because that just gives him an easier opportunity to get you to fail faster and harder the next time. The battle is on. He will try to get you to sin. Your whole marriage long, he will be working on you. How can I tempt them to ... ? He's got thousands of years of experience at temptation, and his success is epic. The Bible is full of relatable stories of failure. We are not immune to temptation. Even Christ was tempted. However, with God's help we can defeat it. Notice that with Christ, it was the Word He used in His defense. So meditate on it, memorize it, read and study the Word and let it become part of you ... so that there are no cracks for Satan to find.

When I got home from my walk, I saw a teeny tiny little weed growing near my front door and to its left an even tinier one. I grabbed the larger of the too and instantly pulled it out. But the tinier one,I couldn't get a grip on it. Just days later, that weed was a full blown plant. That's all it took. Yes, I got a good hold of it and yanked it out, but I noticed a tiny bit of the root was still in there. It will be back. So see to it when you are armoring up, if you already have some weeds, don't just pull out what's at the surface. Get to the root of it and destroy it. Or it will attempt to come back.

Arm yourself. Weed out the bad. Get to the root of it. Get it before it gets you. You will save yourself much heartache, confusion and deeper sin by prevention, protection and a good thorough weeding.

Discussion: Are there weeds in your life that need pulling? What are some areas where you need some spiritual armor strengthening? Can you share a story where you let a "weed" grow in your life and its consequences.

Prayer: Sometimes, Father, we don't notice at first the evil that is lurking and successfully creeping into our lives. Give us your Holy Spirit incite to catch those moment and eliminate the temptation from our lives. Give us courage, strength and perseverance. In Christ we pray, Amen.

Sacred Space

When we visited our house when looking to buy it, I took one look at the woods over the hill behind the Z Shack and said, "I would love to make a prayer path back here, to just walk back in these woods and pray to Jesus." We've lived in this house six years and I've yet to create it ... for a couple of reasons. One, I've mowed down the area back there countless times, but nature has the edge on me and I just can't keep up with it. Weeds, new trees (not to mention poison ivy), they grow so fast back there I just can't stay on top of it. And two, there are supposed to be rattlesnakes back there, so I don't want to stumble across one of those. As a result, there is no prayer path in the back woods. As a matter of fact, we don't really use those woods for anything except collecting brush or dead trees for our fire pit.

Now there is a corner flower bed in the front of my yard near the driveway. When we first moved in, it had a tiny deteriorating wooden fence around it, few perennials some shrubs and trees. Since we've moved in, I have torn down the fence, pruned the bushes and trees and added azaleas, rose bushes, peonies, chrysanthemums and daffodils. I've also added annuals like zinnias, pansies and gerbera daisies. I mulch it every year with fresh pine straw. I weed it every day. I've added decorative cockle seashells. And I've placed two gray Adirondack chairs there for me and Brad. I use those chairs every morning when the weather is nice to do my Bible devotion and Brad will be out there every Sunday morning practicing his sermon. It's become a sacred space of worship.

So while my plans to change the back hill into a reverent place didn't work out, the bed out front has. It took work: weeding, tidying, mulching, planting and replanting to make it into what we wanted it to be. We didn't let nature get the better of us. We worked at it.

It's the same as marriage. If you want marriage to be a sacred place, you need to work at it. Tidying, planting, replanting, pruning and most definitely keeping the weeds out. Don't let the world get the better of you in this. And believe us, it will try. It will try to steal your time, your morals, your love and your patience. Stay on top of it. Be faithful in prayer and Scripture reading. Go to our Father for guidance. Be loving and forgiving. It is absolutely worth the time and effort it takes. Just don't ever make the mistake of thinking it doesn't. Make your marriage a sacred space of worship to glorify the Lord.

Discussion: Do you have a sacred space where you have some devotional time with the Lord? Did it take any work to get it to be that sacred place of worship? What do you think of the comment that marriage takes work?

Prayer: Lord, may we always seek our time in our day to praise and worship You and to seek Your guidance. And, Father, we pray our marriage is also a sacred space of worship. Help us to stay on top of keeping it that way. In Christ Jesus, Amen.