June 6th, 2020: Removing "Weed" from One's Life
My wife was not very happy with me when I removed some of her
precious flowers by accident while weeding out the backyard yesterday.
Somehow I cannot tell the difference between weeds and some of the other
vegetation. She didn't really stay being mad for a long time because
she knew that I intended to be helpful. Weed removing is a constant and
persistent business. It is not something to do just once a year. It is
almost a daily ritual if we want to protect the lawn from the
infestation.
How about removing "weeds" from
our own life? If we are honest with ourselves, there are issues and
aspects of life that have been stopping us from being fully effective
and healthy. Dealing with personal vices is a challenge at times because
it is easy to make excuses for them.
The first
step is to acknowledge that there are weeds in the landscape of our
life. We need help from others to do that. We also need to have the
humility to accept the counsel of those who keep us accountable. We have
to develop trusted relationships to have these people in our life.
The
second step is to have the necessary tools to do the job. Removing
addictions from life requires us to be prepared emotionally, physically,
and spiritually. The tools can be comprehensive: emotional awareness,
physical endurance, and spiritual maturity.
We
then look at the commitment to go through the plan. Many have good
intentions but not all commit to paying the cost of removing one's
stumbling blocks. How often we see people go back to the same treatment
centre they left the year before. Commitment is the highest form of
self-respect.
I am thankful that my wife was
not too mad at me but that doesn't mean that I should make the same
mistake again. If I do, I have not learned this very lesson very well.
(Galatians 5:22)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness"
