Whether you enjoy the process of working in a yard or not, caring for plants and soil takes persistent investment. You cannot automate the process by setting the soil and expect to arrive a few months later with a harvest. If you want strong crops, consistent attention, investment and maintenance must be cultivated. Ensuring that proper sunlight gets to the plants, while daily watering them is a must.
In addition to that, becoming aware of weeds that seek to encroach on your soil is critical to the health of the land. When we first moved in, we spent hours and hours removing weeds and brush that had been ignored and consumed the yard. It was our job to clean them out and keep them out.
Weeds are an interesting phenomenon. They grow subtly, but at the same time, quickly. Over time, weeds can hold your entire garden hostage. I find that I can look at a spot in my yard and see weeds growing there that I did not notice a couple days earlier. As soon as you cut one weed, another grows in its place. Although there are a number of ways to rid your garden of invading weeds, there is nothing more effective than tearing out a weed by the root system.
Take a Deeper Look
What is true in the natural world is true for your spiritual and emotional journey. In the garden of your life grow various thoughts, beliefs and actions on a daily basis. Take a deeper look into the root system and you will find the core of your entire life. It’s called your heart.
All of life flows from the heart. Whether you tend to your heart or not, the main thrust of all that you do flows from what is cultivated or not cultivated there. The heart is the control center for everything that grows and does not grow. It determines the quality of the soil and the root system that is produced in the garden of your life.
When your heart experiences change, everything is impacted. But you must be willing to get to the root issues of your life, otherwise you will spin in circles and repeat the same problems continually.
Addressing the Root System of Your Heart
You and I both know that nothing changes unless we get to the root of the problem. A weed cannot be eradicated unless you pull it out by the root. A disease cannot be treated effectively unless you deal with the root cause. A bad habit cannot be changed permanently unless you get to the core issue that needs to be addressed.
You have to get to the root if you want to grow healthy fruit in your life.
We know this in theory, but we often run from the root issues in our heart that need attention. We miss getting to the core issues, because they involve addressing the motives and broken patterns that drive us into disempowering ruts.
On top of that, we focus so much on symptoms that we miss the core issues that may be fueling our broken manifestations. We’re asking God to move us into new places, provide for our needs and give us an abundant life, yet we neglect to deal with the weeds in our garden that may be preventing a full life from manifesting.
When the Weeds Show Up
The weeds do not show up right away in our hearts. They take time to fester and grow. Down the road, the weeds show up through some of our negative life experiences. Certain agreements enter our heart where we slowly come into alignment with thoughts that condition us to become fearful, condemned, bitter, critical, negative or hardened.
Remember, this doesn’t happen overnight, but the weeds will build momentum to entangle and choke the fruit you were made to produce.
Weeds can manifest in a myriad of ways, yet in our panic, we want to “fix” the weeds without getting to the real problem. We focus our attention on the branches and entanglements that the weeds produce. But we neglect to discover the root system feeding those weeds.
We see a list of manifestations that are actually revealing a deeper issue:
- I have a thought pattern I can’t shake.
- I am addicted and can’t stop.
- My marriage is on the rocks.
- Why am I always so angry?
- I think I might be depressed.
- My heart feels so empty.
- I’m lonely.
- I can’t get over this anxiety.
- My life feels out of control.
- I’m burned out.
- I can’t seem to keep it together.
It’s good that you can stop to realize there is a problem, but you can really miss out on dynamic transformation if you are only focused on symptoms. We have to get to the root system. We need to get to your heart.
But do you even see the signals? Are you aware that your heart needs attention? Do you have tools to allow your heart to heal and experience change?
Ready to take the next step?
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