“Water before you weed” is the response I got from a friend when I asked about lessons he’d learned on his farm.
It’s always disheartening to see weeds in your garden that are too big to be eliminated by cultivation. You probably know from experience that weeds like this will demand a lot of effort you’d rather put into other projects. The memory of sweating behind a shovel because the weed roots just wouldn’t surrender makes you want to just pull out the tiller and start the garden over.
Wisdom from experienced gardeners will help a lot in this situation. Instead of focusing on the problem, first make sure the garden gets a nice deep drink of water. Then you can come back and pull the weeds easily from the softened soil.
Dealing with people can make problems in the garden seem very insignificant, but this garden wisdom is invaluable for these situations. Water with kindness and encouragement: then the deep-rooted problems you face will later be much easier to solve.
Part 2
“Well, weeds are an awful lot like bad habits, aren’t they?” is the answer I got from another farmer friend when I asked him for object lessons from his farm.
I can think of many ways this is true:
Weeds are much easier to deal with when they’re small.
A weed left to grow will produce more weeds.
Weeds keep appearing after you think they’re all gone.
Weeds look innocent in the beginning, but they choke out the good you’re trying to grow.
Watering before weeding is vital when it comes to fighting bad habits.
Addictive behaviour often is a result of losing healthy relationships, so watering with kindness and helpfulness is a way to build a safeguard against bad habits.
The Bible principle is “overcome evil with good”, Romans 12:21. I have found this to be the only way to get long-term victory over bad habits.
Ultimately, the best way to keep a garden weed-free is to have it full of good plants. “You’ll be a poor farmer if all you do is pick weeds” is advice from another farmer.
Matthew 13:31, 32 compares the kingdom of heaven to a tiny mustard seed that eventually grows huge. Planting Bible truths in your life may seem to give you little reward for your effort at first. Don’t give up. Keep watering and weeding. God will grow something good in you. Eventually, it will get so good that your favourite bad habits will be replaced with something far better.