S04E005, Weeds, Flowers and Cultivation, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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Each day we get to choose what we cultivate in our hearts and minds.

Some people can be great at gardening. Then, there are people like us: I’ve spent time lovingly nurturing and caring for a weed, which I’d thought was actually a flower.

And we can do that in our spiritual lives too – we can spend so much time developing something that doesn’t have good roots or foundation!

As disciples of Jesus Christ we need to be constantly checking in God, and Scripture, to ensure that those things in our lives that we are working on, are flowers not weeds; that they’re good for us, not bad; that we’re building God’s Kingdom, not our own.

Just a thought...

Andy B

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So another Andy B 2 Minute Video and, erm, I was chatting online with a friend of mine. And, erm, we were talking about flowers and weeds. And she was talking about her garden. And it struck me that, erm, I have been guilty of cultivating a weed in my garden before now, because it was really pretty, and it grew really well, and all the other stuff wasn't working very well.

And there's an obvious, erm, spiritual analogy here.

Are you cultivating weeds in your spiritual life?

Or are you cultivating flowers in your spiritual life?

And the thing is weeds and flowers, if you don't know what you're looking for, can look the same sometimes.

I've met many people who have cultivated weeds and they can be really pretty. But the thing about weeds is, you can generally just pull it out of the ground.

The foundation of the weed is rubbish.

The foundation of the flower? You wouldn't be able to pull it up. You'd probably destroy the plant before you pull the weeds out.

And it is an obvious spiritual analogy here. But are we cultivating, are you cultivating in your life, weeds, or are you cultivating flowers?

I know for me I can cultivate a weed every time I get distracted by something. And, erm, I can get distracted with busyness or, erm, things that need to be done in the home, or jobs that have to be done. And they take me off, and I start to invest into things that really are perhaps important, but not as important as the pursuit of godliness.

Which would be, in this metaphor at least, erm, cultivating a flower.

There's another scripture, isn't there, talks about how sometimes the weeds, the thorns, and the flowers need to grow together, and they'll be sorted out when they're finished, and you, you cut them up together and then you sort them.

But if you try and pull the weeds out from the flowers, you'll destroy and hurt the flowers.

So sometimes we've got weeds in our lives that are growing next to the flowers. But we can be sort of semi-comforted that that'll be ok at the end of time.

But let's check in with the Holy Spirit.

Let's check in with God.

Let's check in with Scripture.

Is this thing that I am building, and working on, and growing, and watering, and putting plant food into?

Is this something that God wants me to grow?

Or is it something that I want to grow?

Let's be really careful that we're not growing things for us, and our kingdoms, but growing things for God and God's Kingdom.

Just a thought.