James 1:21(MSG)
21 So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Luke 18:27-30 (ESV)
27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Gardening – I am not a fan. There are lots of folks out there that are; I’m just not very good at it. It’s not that I mind crawling around in the dirt or dirt under my fingernails – that is fun. I don’t have the meticulous attention to detail, nor the discipline, to get out there and weed when it barely needs it, so I end up having to do a major hack job and get rid of a forest of weeds to find the plants that should be there. Weed wacker to the rescue – oops, sorry little pine – didn’t see you there.

Weeds shouldn’t be there messing up the landscaping. Invasive, ugly, rapid growing, deep rooted, etc. What a pain. Why can’t the mums grow like the wild onion or creeping charlie?

Oooooh boy. Sin – that word, that fact of our lives. We have it, we have to deal with it. Ever wonder why being perfect is to be sin free? Think about it. Christ is the only perfect human, and that was because he was free from sin. Tempted yes, sinner no. If we at one level can say that to be perfect is to be sin free, shouldn’t we struggle and get that to all of our levels? Shouldn’t we fight the battle to know that sin is a weed, a cancerous weed. We sin, we have weeds in our lives.

I’ve been told, and have seen it a few times, that over time, as a properly planned and maintained garden matures, it stays nearly weed free. Christ is that plan for our souls. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Luke 11:1-6 (ESV)
The Lord’s Prayer
11 Now Jesus[a] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”