Keep the Weeds out of your Life

So we've been coming and going a lot this summer and I have neglected weeding the flower spot in the front of my house. It has mostly looked like just cheat grass growing over and around the few flowers that bloom in the hot summer months in St. George. Dan usually takes care of the weeding around the rest of the house and Lindsey has always been my flower garden weeder.  I don't like weeds or weeding.

Dawson has been bringing friends over to the house a lot lately so I broke down and bought a new welcome mat and decided it was time to weed the flower garden spot. You either have to get out early in July at like 6:00 am or do it after the sun goes down. I chose the later because the garden is on the East side of the house so the blaring sun was not a factor about 8:30 pm.

I began weeding by just bending over and pulling out the weeds with my bare hands; it looked like mostly grass. After a few pulls, I realized that because I had waited so long to pull the grass, it had now produced those nasty, pesty, clinging, prickly spurs that latch onto you and never let go! They are like fish hooks that attach to your skin and are very painful to remove. They have popped many a bike tire over the years that we have lived in St. George.

When I looked down at my clothes, I realized that there were about 20 attached to my body. Then when I stepped to shake around and try to remove them, I found that there were 20 or more stuck to the bottom of my flip flops! Now I realized that this job was going to require the use of gloves, a shovel and a big garbage can to deposit the noxious weeds into.

I painstakingly picked each burr from my clothes, arms and flip flops, gathered the necessary tools to complete the job, most importantly the gloves and began the job again. Some of those pesky burrs would even prick me through the thick work gloves. An hour later, with sweat running down my brow, I completed the job and swept up all remaining evidence from the porch and walk way. I even vacuumed the front entry and front room carpet to make sure that none of the painful burrs were carried into my home. If you've ever stepped on one of those barefoot, you know that every precaution to avoid the burr trap is worth it.

As I reflected on my neglected task and how much more difficult the weeds became to remove, the longer I waited, I realized that it is a lot like the little weeds that creep into our lives. When little mistakes and sins start popping up in your life, it is best to go after them immediately and get rid of them, before they grow into something bigger that is harder to get rid of. If I would have taken care to pull the few weeds that start to show up weekly, I wouldn't have to deal with the hard job that comes from letting the task become too large and overwhelming.

That is the beauty of renewing our covenants weekly in Sacrament meeting as we partake of the sacrament. We are able to reflect on our sins of the week, ask for forgiveness, commit to not making those same mistakes again and then start fresh again each week.  Prevention and checking in each week helps us keep from letting our habits and mistakes, bad feelings and anger build into something that is much harder to get rid of.

Thus is the parable of the weeds.