Until I married and moved to Tennessee, I worked in the family garden in Louisiana during all the seasons every year. In the early spring, we planted seeds in the furrows Dad had prepared. When the sprouts came up, he could tell if we had dropped the seeds properly or if we had spilled them hurriedly to finish the job more quickly.
As soon as the sprouts were tall enough, we had to “thin them out.” Even if a plant looked healthy, if it were too close to another one, it would crowd it and neither of them would grow to its full potential.
After we completed the thinning process, we had to “walk the beans,” checking for weeds and grass every day or so to keep them from choking the young plants. If done correctly, the plants produced many vegetables that we were able to sell or preserve for our family. I believe that this Amish term, “walk the beans,” could be used for our lives as well as our gardens.
The weeding process is never ending! Each day has its own crop! I even helped one morning (that was all I could stand) in the rice field. It was difficult for me to recognize the red rice weeds from the good rice stalks, and sometimes I pulled the wrong ones! It was like Jesus’ parable about tares and wheat. “Wait and let them be separated at harvest,” I thought. (Matthew 13:24-30) Dad suggested I let my older brothers, who knew what they were doing, finish the chore!
In my work place years later, I used the weeding process again. As a school librarian for 43 years, every May I systematically weeded and discarded outdated books, focusing on a different area of the library each time. Guidelines instructed that we throw out nonfiction books more than five years old! With the limited budget that the schools gave me, I could not do that. Adapting the rules to fit the library I was working in, I chose books with the oldest dates, with some dating back multiple decades. Through the years, the budgets remained the same while the cost of the books escalated. For that reason, I had to make judicious selections, both when ordering and when weeding.
Another place for weeding was the contents of the houses I lived in. Each summer, either I had a yard sale or donated to one. It was amazing the “stuff” I accumulated from one year to the next! I hoped my “weeds” would become someone else’s treasure!
But certainly, the most important place for weeding is my heart. Although I try to keep only pure thoughts and good attitudes, I have to fight those ugly ones every day when they raise their heads. For me, the best way to weed out the bad is to stay in touch with God all day every day. It begins with morning prayers for direction, cries for help or guidance or forgiveness during the day, and ends with evening prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
The best weeding formula for me is to ask Jesus to accompany me throughout the day. That is the best way for others to see any Christ-like characteristics I may have. If I would not take Jesus with me to a place, a thought, or an action, then it helps me leave that place, thought, or action quickly and move on. That weeds out those bad ideas and keeps only the characteristics that reflect Jesus.
The following poem by Mildred Burgess is one I keep in the front of my Bible.
“A Christian’s Vegetable Garden”
For the garden of your daily living:
Plant three rows of peas:
- Peace of mind
- Peace of heart
- Peace of soul
Plant four rows of squash:
- Squash gossip
- Squash indifference
- Squash grumbling
- Squash selfishness
Plant four rows of lettuce:
- Lettuce be faithful
- Lettuce be kind
- Lettuce be patient
- Lettuce really love one another
No garden is complete without turnips:
- Turn up for meetings
- Turn up for service
- Turn up to help one another
To conclude our garden, we must have thyme:
- Thyme for God
- Thyme for family
- Thyme for friends
Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There will be much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.
That poem is a wonderful sermon! Working as a weeder, I must admit that sometimes I overstep my intended task. Instead of focusing on weeding my own “garden,” I see weeds I want to pull in others’ lives, but Jesus taught us to examine our own actions and intents. He focused on personal reflection, humility, and not judging others. In Matthew 7:1-5, He said to focus on our own flaws before we try to correct others. We are to be neither judge nor jury, but witnesses only.
Our character is shown through our actions. If we want to influence others for King Jesus and be a good ambassador for His kingdom, we must show good actions from a heart that has weeded out bad ideas. James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us. With God’s help, we can have a successful weeding process and bear good fruit!
Each morning, I ask God to guide my mind, my mouth, and my manners. If I work at weeding out all of the unnecessary “stuff” from my chores, my career, and my concerns, I will have a healthier attitude and be more like Jesus. My goal is to be wrapped in His love and saturated with His likeness!
God bless us all!
Joyce Smith Broyles