Pulling Weeds

The original city wall of Plzen, built (I think) in 1295. There is only a small section of it left.

The tower of St. Bart's Cathedral on the square offers a pretty amazing view of our city. Here is the Big Synagogue of Plzen. Isn't our city beautiful?!

But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. Romans 5, The Message

I want to acknowledge up front that this post was almost required of me by my friend, Frances Courson. When I announced on Facebook that I was looking forward to a day of pulling weeds in my back yard, her comment was that she was sure I would make that into some sort of spiritual application on my blog. Certainly, I cannot just ignore that challenge. :) Of course, there are some pretty easy spiritual applications to make from weed pulling, aren't there? I'm sure none of these conclusions is going to be something new and miraculous to you, but maybe you, like I, can use a good reminder that sometimes we have to pull the weeds in our lives. So here are my spiritual applications from the back-breaking work of pulling weeds.

• Sometimes, the big weeds have tiny little roots and are easier to get rid of than we think they're going to be. There were prickly weeds all over my yard, and some of them were huge. I'm talking HUGE (I thought they were plants at first. Don't judge me.) But when I went to pull them out, they just came out. What I had pictured as the torturous job of pulling them, something I dreaded and had put off, wasn't that big a deal. Isn't that true with things we think are huge and difficult to overcome? Sometimes those things turn out to be no big deal, easily handled. When I went to Russia, the darkness (the literal darkness) overwhelmed me. It became to me this huge monster that I could not live with, but could not get rid of, either. But because of my pride (another weed of mine, by the way), I would not ask for help until I was absolutely desperate. When I DID ask for help, I was given a lamp specifically designed for people who have trouble with the darkness. Poof. Problem fixed. Never had a problem with it again. Big weed, little teeny roots.
  

• Some of the tiny little weeds had deep, deep roots and were difficult to pull. The opposite is also true. Some of the little grass that I pulled from the flower beds had roots down to China and were really hard to get rid of. Hmmmm...can you think of anything in your life that looks like a little problem, but turns into a BIG, deep-rooted problem that you really have to work at fixing? I can. For me, insecurity is the ugly little grass that continually pops up in my flower bed. While I present to the world at large the face of someone who is confident in who she is, it's a complete lie. Given half a moment to pop up, insecurity whispers in my ear at every turn. You know what it whispers? "They don't like you." It doesn't matter who the 'they' is, I am pretty sure that anyone who knows me probably doesn't like me all that much. And given a whole second to take hold, this little grass completely takes over my flower bed. I am not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, thin enough (NEVER thin enough), spiritual enough....the list goes on and on and on. Whatever the adjective, I am not enough of it, or I'm too much of it. Too emotional, too dramatic, too demonstrative...you get the idea. The roots on this little weed can strangle me.
  
• I cannot pull them all at once. I have to do a section at a time, or I am overwhelmed and give up. Ever listened to a sermon and just decided to completely change everything about yourself in one fell swoop? I have. I think we all have, if we're honest. How did that go for you? In my experience, it doesn't go all that well. For me (and I'm not making a universal statement here--I'm talking about only for me), real change in my life is gradual, little baby steps. When I decide to completely change this or that, I usually fail. But when I decide to let God change things (as opposed to me forcing them to change) and then really pay attention, I can see things changing around me and in me. And then I can move on to the next change.
• My back yard doesn't have to look like the neighbor's. It has to look like mine. Some of my neighbors have beautifully landscaped yards. Some don't. Mine is somewhere in the middle of that. I only have 55 days left here, and I don't want to invest tons of money in plants, etc., but I want it to look nice, both for my neighbors and for my landlord, who will need to rent this place when we're gone. I want to make my yard the best it can be, but I don't have to make it like someone else's. I have spent way too much time on the field (and in life) comparing myself to others and always finding myself lacking. A perfect example is my weight. For the most part, people with my company are pretty thin, because they have to be--we are self-insured and have weight requirements because of that. I lost a lot of weight to come to the field, but when I arrived, I was still one of the heaviest people there. And I've struggled from day one with my weight. I will be going back to Weight Watchers the second I step foot on American soil, because I've put on weight and I can't seem to get it off, no matter what I do. So to me, weight has become a huge monster in my life. And I tend to think that anyone who doesn't struggle with it like I do isn't struggling with anything. They are perfect, they lead perfect lives, have perfect marriages, perfect children, perfect everything. Now, we all know that's a lie, right? Nobody anywhere is leading a perfect life. But when I compare my life to others, I am doing myself (and them) a disservice. God didn't call me to be anyone else. He called me to be Kellye. And Kellye struggles with weight. But I don't struggle with an abusive background or a terrible childhood or a family who doesn't want me on the mission field. Everyone struggles with something. Comparing myself to others...a waste of my time and theirs.

So there you go, Frances. Spiritual applications from pulling weeds. By the way--I'm still not finished pulling them. It keeps raining. They keep sprouting up in places I'm not expecting them. Yeah, yeah...another application. I'll let you all make that one on your own. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are daily pulling up the weeds in your life, and that you are going to your favorite place on earth in a week, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye