Watch for Weeds

Weeds...it's something we have plenty of in our organic bean fields. I was blessed to share one way we try to combat them on Wendy Blight's blog. I'd love for you to stop by, enter for a chance to win a copy of my study and subscribe to her site - you'll be blessed! You can do so by clicking HERE.

Sometimes cultivating is not enough and we have to walk the beans. This means we walk up and down the row and pull the weeds. It's not an easy job, or a fun one, but it is often an educational one.

A tiny weed hidden between two bean plants.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out in the field with our hard-working crew when I got to thinking about how some weeds are hard to see. Some of them are small, look a bit like the beans and grow up right with them. If I'm not looking closely, I will walk right by. If I'm not paying attention, I won't even realize they are a weed.

I shared this info with my children and the rest of the crew and then God started speaking to my heart. Weeds grow between the rows of beans, but they also grow right up with the plant we hope to harvest. I was reminded the same is true in a spiritual sense...sin can creep right in with the fruit we are producing.

This lesson took place a few weeks before our women's event and the weed the Holy Spirit warned me about was pride. The cocky, boastful self-talk we know as pride is easy to recognize, but pride can look different and be hard to see. Insecurity is a form of pride as is a focus on self rather than God. Friend, this ugly weed can grow right up with the fruit God is growing in our lives.

Other weeds can too, so we must constantly be alert. I've found it powerful to pray Psalm 139:23-24 - "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

If we pray that prayer, God will answer it. We need to be prepared to respond to His answer. I'm never excited to see another weed in the field, but when I do I know what needs to be done. The same is true for the weeds in our heart - when God reveals them, we must remove them.

Friend, I encourage you to take some time to tend to the field of your heart. Ask God for eyes to see the weeds that are hidden and for a willingness to do the work of removal. Your efforts will be rewarded and the harvest will increase!!

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the seeds you plant and the weeds you can remove. I ask You for eyes to see. Lord, if there is any pride growing up with the fruit please help me see it. If there's other sin I'm unaware of, open my eyes. Remove the weed. Uproot it all so that the harvest you produce in me and through me is pure. Thank you for the work you have begun and promise to complete. In Jesus' Name, Amen