Here in Vietnam we do a lot of different things that work with a lot of different people. One thing that we do on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is work at a school that caters to special needs children. Our first task each time we visit the school is to work in their garden and pull weeds.
The other day we were all working in the garden and it was SO hot, the humidity was super high, the UV was baking us alive, and it was not even 10am. I was pulling weeds and there were a couple of times that I did not get the roots, but only I could tell they were there. I was hot, so sweaty, and dirty and honestly I just wanted to move on because it looked like a job well done. I knew that if I moved on the weeds would come back and someone else would have to clean up after me, but I did not care. I wanted to keep going because it looked good. The weeds were cleared out and no one would know that I did a half way job until I was out of the country and the weeds were back. However, the Lord convicted me about that. He told me our lives are just like that garden bed.
We have all of these weeds in our lives that prohibit the growth of the things that the Lord is trying to grow. we clear out all of the things above ground and tell ourselves and the people around us that we weeded the garden, that we got out all of the bad things so there is good soil for the Lord to plant beautiful and fruitful things in. However, under the soil there are these roots that will choke out anything that the Lord tries to grow and bring fruit from.
It takes a lot of hard work to make sure the you get all of the roots pulled. It’s hot, sweaty, and dirty but the result is a faith that actually brings fruit.
God has been so good to you!