Round-up

Here's to another psychotic writing. Daily routines.

I don't have much of one- until night. I mean there are things I do repetitively, but my nighttime routine is much more established than my day time routine.

My husband would argue that the nighttime routine takes an eternity, but maybe 15 minutes is accurate. Take off my makeup if I didn't get it off from the shower. Brush my teeth, floss, take out my contacts, put on my eye cream and face lotion. Search for my glasses to be able to do the rest of the tasks. Lather up with 2 kinds of lotion for my body- one for baby belly and the rest to help me sleep from baby belly. Use the bathroom 2-3 times, depending on how this baby is feeling for the night. Do a once over on my face/eyebrows to make sure it looks ok. Put in my retainer. Drink a tervis cup full of water (and all through the night). Put the dogs in jail. Turn on the alarm and check all the locks.

Every. dang. day. Poor man is usually asleep by the time I finally get in the bed and hates to wait on me to do our devotion.

I'm sure some people have other similar routines- we don't drink coffee in our house or wake up any earlier than we have to- but use your own situation here.

I am slowly learning another routine God would have for me.

We have a beautiful landscaped yard thanks to my husband. Our yard is the prettiest in the neighborhood- hands down. It is lavished in bushes, trees, side walk lights, and beautiful colored flowers. We have a huge magnolia tree surrounded by small bushes on the corner of our lot- which is what you immediately see upon coming down the hill of the road. The house is surrounded by azaleas and a HUGE lilly setup with a few trees and small bushes and some big day lillies and large rose bushes. The front has hydrangeas and lorapetalum on the side of the garage. My favorite is the plum tree that we planted together surrounded by butterfly bushes. It is so green right now- and has gotten so big since we planted it. He cuts the grass in very determined linear patterns and our yard just glows. (We also have an outside company come in a few times to help our yard be at it's best- but my husband does the hard labor).

What I have noticed though: the weeds are in full force. Maybe he doesn't know this, but every few days I pick the weeds out of the beds. I go around the entire house looking for something that doesn't belong there.

Weeds can look pretty sometimes- and even are hard to distinguish from what is actually supposed to be there- but they literally suck the life out of the purposed plant. Some are small and go unnoticed. Some stand out really well and are easy to pluck and get rid of.

Do you see any weeds here?

Look again.

Those leaves don't belong there. You can't really see it in this picture, but they are a weed.


Some weeds have been growing for so long that their root system is attached to much more than surface level. Some are so easy to get rid of that you would have never noticed them missing- while others leave gaping holes in the soil that has to be covered and fixed. Still some leave behind some residue or a pod of sorts that has to be removed as well. You can't just pick them and throw them on the ground as someone has told me. Apparently they can shake off their spores or whatever and leave some on another spot- causing them to grow in other places. Complete removal of the weed is what is needed for the purposed plants and flowers to grow to their full potential and for them to soak up all the nutrients without having something else cut off their life support.

God has been revealing to me that I have some weeding to do in my own life, not just in my flower bed. I need to weed out the things that are sucking the life (aka Jesus) out of me. Friends, habits, sometimes family, routines that don't include Christ, and actions and behaviors.

It is so easy to get caught up in the world. Then I realize the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

To fully weed out my life, I need to identify what is keeping me from reaching my purpose in a full and complete way. Sometimes it is really easy to see when someone has a problem they need to get rid of (most assuredly in others- hardest in ourselves to see anything wrong). Other times, the problem/behavior/habit has been there so long it is now a part of the person and they don't know how to deal without it. Maybe it is bitterness or selfishness or apathy- or even a hidden habit that we keep from friends but we know it causes us problems. Some things that have to be removed from our lives might leave a gaping hole in our hearts, but I can rest knowing that the Ultimate Healer would never leave me in that condition. He will fill me with better things that lead me closer to him. Those weeds were never meant to be a part of you anyway. 

Just one days worth of weeds from the front bed.

So, today as I sit for Monday to be over, I hope you and I will begin to see the need to get rid of the things that are keeping us from being our biggest and brightest- alive and well- and thriving. Instead of starting to weed out other's gardens, I'll just start with mine. 

I hope to make weeding a daily part of my life- weeding out the earthly things that were never meant to be a part of me anyway and letting Christ shine brighter in me.