Weeds

Weeds... nobody likes weeds. Nobody plants weeds. Nobody tends to weeds. Weeds grow naturally and quickly. Weeds will overtake your garden or your yard if allow them to. Nobody likes weeds.

This spring, we planted a small little raised bed garden and also planted some shrubs and flowers around the house. While the weather was cool and when summer was young, I enjoyed going out to tend to the garden. Occasionally, I would find a little weed here and there and I was able to quickly uproot it. I was on top of things, and my garden was growing and was fruitful (except for the broccoli which I planted unknowingly out of season). 

Back in June, we went to the beach for 7 days and during that time my garden went untended except for being watered. That one week of letting things go was the beginning of the end of my little summer garden. I became lazy in my gardening. The heat and humidity made gardening a chore that I grew weary off. It was much easier to ignore the tending. 

Today, I went out to water my dreadfully wilted potted flowers in hopes that they can recover. I went and surveyed my little garden... or what was left of it. What I found was surprising and sobering. I found weeds – not little weeds but HUGE weeds! There was no fruitfulness in my garden only the remnants of what used to be... and weeds. 

In order to grow and maintain a fruitful garden, I have to constantly tend to it. I have to seek out the weeds and uproot them when they are small because if I let things go, those small little weeds will consume my garden and my yard. As I stood next to these waist high weeds, I realize how much work lies before me to get my garden back to the way it should be. 

Weeds also grow in the gardens of our lives – our relationships with our spouses, with our children, with our friends, with God. Nobody likes weeds here either, yet if we fail to be diligent in tending our gardens, we will turn around to find they have been overrun with weeds. Because remember... nobody plants weeds, nobody tends to weeds, weeds grow quickly and naturally. Our relationships take work and attention, and when it gets hot and we grow weary we must continue on. We have to because weeds don't rest.

I feel like I've let a lot of weeds grow up in the gardens of my life. I've been so distracted by this and that and I have neglected the tending of my gardens. 

Yesterday, Brayden and I had a rough morning. He had a poor attitude, and I was just not in the mood to deal with it. Around lunchtime he complained about being bored and said we didn't do anything because I had been on FB all morning. Well, this set me off because I actually had NOT been on FB all morning. We had done our devotion,  I had done spelling with Brayden and flash cards with Asher, I had put our bathroom back together (I just painted it), I had paid some bills and I had ordered all of our homeschool curriculum. His accusation was false but the fact I was so defensive about it made me realize there were quite a few weeds in my garden. 

We only have two weeks left before we start school and maybe only a few months before the girls come home. I decided I needed to minimize my distractions and focus on getting things done for and with my family. I need to tend to my gardens. So if you need me for the next couple of weeks you can email me (krisogden@hotmail.com) or call me or text me or stop by for a visit but you won't find me on FB. :)

If we have any adoption updates to share I will blog about them and Lance can share them on FB.  

Until next time! -K