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Like a lot of things I’m not always very good at, I do nevertheless enjoy gardening. When we lived in Waltham, Illinois the prairie soil was deep and dark and would pretty much grow and produce an abundance of whatever one put in the ground.

Here in North central PA we have the wonderful Tioga County loam, that often requires a bit more work.

But both have the same particular problem. It’s a problem that is endemic to every piece of ground, in every location, the world around. Weeds!

Now one can reduce the incidence of weeds with chemicals or mulch, or by constant tilling of the soil. But in every case tit requires effort.

No one that I know of has ever not had to turn the soil over, remove the ground cover, weeds, or other matter before planting. And no one I know has ever had a weed free garden that didn’t tend to keeping it that way.

We’re getting ready to put in a garden. And as you can see, we’ve got out work cut out for us. A friend came by and broke the ground last fall. He commented he didn’t think the ground had been plowed in a hundred years. It took some work… And we’ve got more to do before we plant, obviously.

Gardens are wonderful things, but like our spiritual lives. Weeds can and will grown. We need to be attending to our spiritual lives just as we tend to our gardens. Over time we learn that the more we attend to the weeding the less effort that is needed. If we let those weeds grow up, they’ll choke the plants, the roots of weeds and crops will become entangled and we won’t be able to separated them, the crop yield will be reduced as the weeds soak up valuable moisture from the ground. And the garden will just look a mess.

How’s the garden of your spiritual life. Does it need a radical plowing up? Jesus can do that. Does it need regular tilling, a good gospel preaching sermon and godly fellowship can help. Perhaps it just needs a good watering. The Spirit is available to those who would but ask.

Is your spiritual garden just beginning to sprout? Is it bearing fruit, ready for the harvest? Irrespective of the current state of your spiritual life, I’m hear to tell you there are ample opportunities around to to get help, to trim, to cultivate, to till, to water, or to otherwise get it in shape for the harvest that is coming.

Want to know more? Write me at glen@bythedoor.org and check back here next month where I’ll be waiting by the door.