Weeds of a different kind

A few days ago I started to do some in depth yard work, as a way of taking my mind off of family illness. Little did I know I was working in the heat, and not being bothered by it. I think it also had to do with where I was putting my thoughts. Today was an unusual one, because as I was finishing weeding around the screen house, I couldn't help but think about some of Jesus' words.

What were they? It had to do with weeds of course. Through the years as we have endured different ailments, the work that needed to be done was left undone. So weeds began to take over. I thought how it is with life too, when we don't take care of our faith, how the weeds soon over take our soul. In a sense sin does this, it grows and spreads, soon choking out the light that used to be there. But with diligence, and hard work the weeds began to be removed from the area we are tending. Whether it be a flower garden, or a vegetable one, it's the same with us. We can remove little by little the weeds that choke out life within us. Unless we have a small area that needs cleaning out then, it's an easy task to take care of. But when it is so overgrown within us it takes a lot of work to clean, doesn't it. Just like it is when we weed our own gardens that have overgrown from lack of care.

For us, we have confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to kill the sin that chokes the life from our lives. Somehow all my life no matter what I did or where I erred, the thought of God was there. I would think the same as I did today, about something that would place my life and God's Words into play. So as I weeded around the flower plants, I also recalled weeding my own life, and pulling out the sins that choked out the light of God's presence in my life.