Weeding it out

With the right conditions, the weeds will come. They always seem to come...from my softened, recently-tilled soil to the hairline cracks in my concrete driveway. If that weed seed gets what it needs to survive, that's exactly what it intends to do.
I have also noticed, that pulling out these weeds can be exhaustive yet so rewarding. As we are heading for some holidays in the near future, I was determined to pick out as many weeds as I could to make my return home more inviting. I picked weeds for almost 5 hours one day. It was such a tiresome job but as each full root came out of the ground, I felt an element of relief and happiness. Some weeds were taller than me, sharp and thorny and quite painful to remove(please don't judge my gardening skills....they are coming...just slowly perhaps than they should) and some were almost like a soft carpet covering the ground, almost unnoticeable to me. But call them like they are....they were all weeds, taking up the ground's nutrients and water from my garden.
As I have been going through this weeding cleanse in my garden, I have also been searching and asking God to help me weed out the weeds in my spiritual life. As I have prayed for wisdom and clarity, He has shown me where the weeds are and how I can remove them. This process will take longer than my 5 hour gardening experience, but it is coming. God has shown me truths about my life and where He desires me to be and how I can get to fullness and freedom without feel choked out by the weeds and seeing life without them. We all have weeds. I knew I had some but I never realized the bulk of them. I have gone to the throne of grace asking God to pick them out and remove them for good. Where the weeds were, are places now that I'm having to trust God to fill them with His goodness, love and whatever He is entrusting to me to do on my life journey!
Today in our church service, our speaker talked about removing those things in our lives that take the place of where God should be. To be honest, if I haven't started this life change, I may not have seen these places that I allowed things and people replace my need for God.
Won't you join me on this journey of spiritual weeding? I'm almost giddy knowing that God is doing big things in my life...this 'letting go' of self and my desires isn't easy, but it's so much better than the alternative!
"some of us think holding on makes us stronger, but sometimes it's letting go" ~Herman Hesse
Blessings as you weed,
Andrea