Weeds

     Spring finally decided to show up in Warrenton after quite the delay.  Once the warmer temperatures arrived, the trees wasted no time at all and began to show off their shades of pink and then of course the greenest green leaves you could imagine.  Along with the blooming trees and flowers we of course have a plethora of dandelions everywhere you look.  Most yards are blessed with a few....or in our case a few hundred. 

     My girls love flowers.  In the past month I can't count how many times each of them have very excitedly presented me with a handful of freshly picked dandelions and their enthusiasm could make you think they were roses.   Yup.  They love them.  When you explain to them that they are weeds it doesn't change their opinion of them.  They think they are beautiful.  They pick them to enjoy, they pick them for others to enjoy and they even pick them in attempt to make fine jewelry.  

     Kerrington and I were in the yard and driveway spraying the weeds this afternoon and I got to thinking about those weeds.  Those dandelions don't impress me because I know what they are.  I know what REALLY beautiful flowers look like and they don't resemble a dandelion.  I know that though a dandelion comes in a pretty shade of yellow I also know that the roots run deep and they choke out the grass and good flowers.  More than that, give a dandelion a little time and it will turn white and spread it's destruction wherever the wind will take it.  

     I thought about how sin and dandelions have a whole lot in common.  At first sin can look attractive and it seems harmless...but give it a little time and before you know it the roots are deep and the destruction begins.  I thought back at the times when I picked up my dandelion sin and admired it and even tried to make it look pretty....as a matter of fact I probably tried to make other people admire it too.  I can imagine God looking down at me shaking his head as he watches me caressing my pathetic dandelion when he is holding a beautiful bouquet just waiting to present it to me.  

     Dandelions might look pretty until you know a little more about them and what they lead to.  A yard full of dandelions results in a yard of dead grass.  A life full of sin leads to death too.   It's funny, I don't think I have every seen a yard with only one dandelion.  The same goes for sin...one often leads to another, and another.  Most of the time it's hard to stop at just one.  

     If we want a nice yard where grass can grow and thrive, we simply can't have weeds.  If we want a life where WE can grow, we can't willfully allow sin to be in our life.  Flowers can't grow where there are weeds, and Jesus can't reside where there is sin.   Bring on the weed killer.