Am I Unpleasant?

Full Question: Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?

Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

This morning, we spent a couple of hours working at the “Secret Garden,” a garden that had largely been abandoned by a community that started it many years ago. A school has now opened in that building, and the new assistant principal has a vision for using the garden to not only supply the school’s kitchen but also to help with a nearby refugee school. It’s a bold vision, especially considering the state the garden was in when we found it.

Our job: to begin the process of weeding and clearing out the garden space. (The next crew’s job is to spread mulch, so I think we got off easy!) As I sat in the dirt this morning, today’s question came to mind. Jealousy, impurity, a critical spirit, irritation, touchiness and lack of trust—weeds, every one of them. Weeds of the mind and heart that can not only disrupt our witness for Christ but can pull us down into dark places. They are weeds that need to be removed.

But, as anyone who has worked in a garden knows, if you don’t get the weeds entirely out, way down to the roots, they will just grow back—and maybe stronger than ever. These things that grow in my life, in your life, in our lives—they need to be pulled out all the way down to the roots, entirely removed from our lives. Of course, those are not as easy to pull out as the weeds were this morning, and those weeds were not easy! (I have discovered muscles I didn’t know I had!) Allowed to grow, these things will take over our lives.

The garden we left today was clear, ready for tilling and planting. It looked new, renewed. But it will need constant tending if it’s going to be productive. So will our lives.