Red on the Head

I've been thinking a lot the past couple of days about New Year's resolutions. I don't make 'em. Because I don't usually keep 'em. So why set myself up to fail?

But I was thinking about this year and what I'd like to accomplish. See my bucket list. To that, I believe I need to add something very important: weed pulling.

When I was a kid, we had a garden. When other kids got to sleep in late on those fabulous summer mornings, my mother got us up and out in the garden, pulling weeds. I had no problem complaining about it. I figured, I didn't plant this stuff, I didn't ask for a garden, so I shouldn't have to do this. But I had no problem eating those fresh veggies, though. Not logical. But so goes the thinking of a kid.

But as I remembered that, I thought about all the weeds in my life...all the things that need to be removed. All the bad habits, the bad behaviors...just bad stuff in general. All of that needs to be pulled out of me....out of my "garden."

And here's the kicker: I can't do it. At least, not on my own. I need some help. And who do I cry out to? My Father. I ask for His help. I wake Him up on a summer morning, and I ask Him to pull weeds in the garden I've planted.

It would certainly be easy for God to say, "I didn't plant this stuff. I didn't ask for this garden. So I shouldn't have to pull YOUR weeds."

But God doesn't work that way. He pulls the weeds. No complaints. He pulls the ones that tickle. He pulls the ones that make me say, "I didn't even feel that." He pulls the ones I point out. He pulls the ones I can't see. He even pulls up the ones that go so deep that it hurts me to pull them up. Even when I scream in pain, He keeps pulling.

But here's the thing – He doesn't pull those weeds unless I ask Him to. I have to invite Him into the garden. There's no doorknob on the outside of my garden gate, so I have to let Him in.

So this year, in 2011, I have opened wide the gate, and I'm asking Him to weed my garden. Each and every row. No matter what it costs me...no matter how it hurts. Even if, when He's done, there's nothing left. Just pull the weeds, Lord...

After all, you can't plant new stuff...good stuff...fruit-producing stuff...if there are weeds in the way.