I spent quite a bit of time this morning weeding the flower bed in front of my house. I’ll admit that this is not my favorite job, but I have found that when my flower bed is flourishing, it brings me a lot of joy. That must be what John Keats was feeling when he wrote, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.

I’m not very good at the whole gardening thing. Hardy plants are the way to go for me. I have a few really beautiful rose bushes that my oldest son gave me and I have Jonquils and Hostas that come up every year. About this time each year, I give the flower bed a good weeding, buy some Impatiens and scatter them throughout the bed and call it a day.

Last year, my daughter planted a bunch of flower seeds in there and we had a bunch of sunflowers pop up as well as a few other varieties of flowers that were pretty, but I have no clue what they were. We also had a random vine with four or five pumpkins spring up and take over the entire bed – until I tried to “gently” prune it, and I killed the whole lot of them. Yup! That about sums up my gardening skills for you.

Last summer, I managed to get my hands on some mint plants and transplanted them into my little garden area. They were really scrawny looking, but one thing I do know about plants, is that mint is super hardy and will actually take over your whole garden if you’re not careful. A perfect plant for a non-green-thumb like myself! They did not disappoint, and I now have many fragrant mint plants spring up and I have already enjoyed some really delicious mint iced tea from them.

As I was pulling up all the nasty weeds this morning, I noticed that when I pulled some weeds that were really close to the mint, I pulled up one of the mint plants as well! Oops! I guess I’ll leave the weeds that are super close so that I don’t kill my mint. I also noticed something else. There weren’t actually very many weeds among the mint plants. That is true of my Hosta plants as well. The more the Hostas flourish, the less weeds there are to pull around them. I’m sure that this isn’t news to you avid gardeners out there. This is probably why your flowers beds are so gorgeous! The more flowers, the less weeds!

This made me think of my kids’ lives and how very much like gardening parenting can be. As a mom, I desperately want my kids to grow and bloom into something beautiful that God can use to further His kingdom and will bring joy to Him as well as to others looking on. I try my best to cultivate the soil of their hearts and plant things that will thrive and grow despite any adverse conditions that they may face.

When the “weeds” of this world spring up and try and crowd out the good things growing, I try to be quick to identify them as such and do my best to help the kids uproot them and not let them grow. Sometimes though, just like my mint plants, these weeds grow really close to the roots of the good things in my kids’ lives. Often, it’s hard to tell which root is which and as much as I don’t want to, it is actually better for their spiritual growth and well being that I leave the “weed” there. I couldn’t possibly remove every single bad thing from my kids’ lives any more than I could get rid of every single weed root in my garden. I dare say that I have my share of “weeds” in my own life and only God can remove them without uprooting the good things!

The thought of leaving things in my kids’ lives that might not be pleasing to God was not really something I liked to think about doing. What if those “weeds” start to choke out the good fruit in their lives? What if they take over the whole garden and there aren’t any beautiful blooms left to see? What if they end up walking away from God? What if, what if, what if?

Well, what if, like a beautiful garden full of blooms, there were so many good things planted in my kids’ lives, that there was barely any room for weeds to grow? What if, just like my mint plants that will spread and probably take over my garden, my kids’ faith spreads beyond our walls and begins to dominate their friendships, their school, their work, and every other aspect of their lives? What if revival in our country started with my kids???

This year maybe I will try and plant more than just a few flowers to make my garden look pretty. Maybe I will fill up the bed with so many plants that the weeds that are there won’t stand a chance. Perhaps, I will rethink the gardening plans I have for my kids as well. I’ll concentrate more on what I’m putting into their lives and worry less about trying to weed out every little thing that doesn’t belong.