When I set out to complete a goal, I normally start out by seeking or searching for a potential element that will help me to reach that goal. In life we have many goals and aspirations we feel we need to complete. We also have a big goal or main goal of finding out the purpose of our life, the why we were born. Or what we are placed here to actually do. Some people find that purpose early on in life, for others it takes a little longer, and unfortunately some never find it. What I have found in my search is that my focus was blocked by weeds in my life. Weeds that I allowed to stay far too long. Let me give you a little information that I found out about weeds. I will start with the definition itself: Weeds are generally plants that have absolutely no redeeming value as far as food, nutrition, or medicine are concerned. They grow at an accelerated speed and often leave seeds to reproduce their kind. Weeds are poisonous if eaten, taste bad, have thorns or other physical features making them difficult to remove. Weeds are destructive, invasive of space, and they prevent the maximum potential for a garden to thrive. Weeds are excellent in surviving in disturbed environments and look to dominate in these conditions. Weeds also choke out the seeds of the plants’ access to the vine. Weeds are what I call “delayers/distractors” that keep the seed from producing the fruit or flower that it should. Now that I have explained what weeds are for those of you (like me) who do not have a green thumb, I will move on to the true reason for this article.
I want you to know that if you are living and breathing, you have a true purpose to fulfill in this lifetime. Getting there will take effort and dedication, but it will be worth it. Your weeds of life may be different from what I have experienced and may be harder to release yourself from. In all of my findings about weeds, the part that struck me most was that they are capable of choking out the access to the vine. The vine grows and extends and it gives the seeds access to a wider range of growth space. A Vine holds a resistance to pulling and breaking, it’s very strong despite how it looks. Who is the vine that we need to connect to? Jesus! (John 15:1-17) Weeds are so selfish, they compete for space on that vine which delays the seeds’ potential. The seed has no clue as to what is happening during this time of delay, just that it’s disconnected from the vine and stuck in the same spot. Sometimes, that is us. Stuck in the same spot of life. Just living day by day not really maturing or growing. We don’t pay enough attention to the particular weed that is causing that position we are in.
It could be unforgiveness, harsh language, it could be a drug habit of choice, too much alcohol, too much social media or tv on a daily basis. Anything that distracts us from doing what God has called us to do is a weed in our lives. Weeds are very good at disguising themselves to be something that they are not. In our lives this could be a person who turns out to be different from what they portray to be and they may not be good for us. But I know that it can be hard to cut off or pull out that type of weed from our lives, being human makes us relational. Most of us want to see the good in the people we surround ourselves with and when red flags come up we ignore them because we think we can change the person by our influence. But sometimes, God is telling us to let that person go because they are delaying our progress in life. It’s not that they aren’t good enough. It’s just not meant for them to go to the next level with us. Sometimes cutting off weeds will be painful, sometimes it takes little steps to fully get to the root of the weed.
But it’s possible. Realize that there is going to always be a cost in managing the removal of weeds in your life. You have to know and understand this. But know that it is all for the best. Removing those delayers and distractors is the only way that we can reach our maximum potential in life. As I mentioned earlier, weeds are excellent at surviving in disturbed environments and look to dominate in these conditions. Isn’t that just what the enemy does when we feel like our life is chaotic or in turmoil? He likes to dominate by continuing to pour down on us causing us to feel like things are never going to get better. Our life can be just the disturbed environment a weed needs to not only survive but thrive. This is not a time to read this and say to yourself you are all bad and everything is your fault, this is a time to self-reflect-in a good way. This is a time to bring awareness to yourself and the position you are in. Where you see the need for change, start to act on it.
As believers it is our responsibility to remain closely connected to Jesus (our vine) daily. We must do a behavior and heart check daily to ensure we have no wild weeds growing. If we find any, start to pull them out by finding a bible verse that speaks the opposite and good into that area of your life. Anything in our lives that is producing rotten fruit or plants that will not bloom, is a weed and a distraction to our relationship with Jesus. Every day we must check for those bad things in our lives and figure out why we are doing those things then work to stop doing them. If you check and there are no weeds there, that’s great! You’re awesome. But because we now know that weeds are good at disguising themselves, we should still check every day. Finding your life’s purpose starts with a strong relationship with God through Jesus. After all, He is the one who created us, so why wouldn’t you go to Him to find out why? God is always standing with open arms ready to meet you where you are. He has great things in store for you and your future.
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