I’m no gardener; not a green bone or drop of blood in my body, thumb or otherwise, but even I know that weeds are no good for a garden. When we moved to Nebraska, the parsonage had a long flower bed in front of the house. Most of the flowers and bulbs planted by the former pastor’s wife had been removed, but there were a few tulips and other plants left. Eventually, the bed became over run with weeds. When they got about knee-high I decided it was time I had to do something with them.

The soil was sandy and dry and pulling the weeds seemed an easy thing to do. I got about four feet along the house and felt like things were going fairly well, until I looked back to check on my progress. While I had removed most of the big weeds, there were dozens of little, tiny sprouts left just poking through the soil and there were too many to get them all. Further, although most of the weeds came out easily there were weeds that I had grasped right at the ground level and still left the roots deep in the soil when I pulled on them. They were sure to return and choke out any flowers that remained. I doggedly continued on, thinking that it would at least look better for awhile, and doing something was better than doing nothing. My determination failed moments later when my hand ran into a snake. I jumped back and screamed for my husband, letting him know that he would be finishing the weeding!

Later that afternoon I came out to check on his progress and found not only a clean flower bed, but a wet walk. At first I thought he had simply watered the flowers after he had weeded, but then I looked a little closer and discovered that he had taken the hose and soaked the soil before he began pulling out any weeds. The difference in the job he did and my own attempts were quite obvious two weeks later when those weeds I missed began to grow. Because he had taken the time to wet the soil he was able to fully remove the larger weeds by the roots, and the small weeds were easily scraped out as well. My area was once again full of weeds, while his was blooming flowers!

I’ve found forgiveness to be a lot like that flower bed. When we try to pull out the weeds of pain inflicted on us by others we often leave the root of the problem deep within the soul. But if we soak our lives with the Word of God we are able to remove the root from which the seeds of bitterness spring. As the Word seeps deep into our hearts and lives and we begin to apply it in practical ways of obedience, so it softens the soil for God to remove those things which have wounded us and are choking out the blossoms of His grace and mercy that He so wants to see bloom in our lives. Left undealt with those wounds will begin to fester and grow and soon crowd out the love and forgiveness that display God’s handiwork in our hearts.

Forgiveness is a process and just like weeds keep coming back we often have to deal with another sprout or area of resentment in not letting go of our hurts. If we try pulling these things out of our life ourselves and not allow the Holy Spirit to soak the soil first, we simply delay the inevitable. They will rise up in our lives again as surely as those roots left in the soil grew back to crowd out the flowers. Forgiveness is authored by God. It is His forgiveness of us that enables us to forgive others. It is His grace, His mercy, His love and only by allowing Him control of our hearts and yielding our emotions to Him will we be able to pour out those things to others. Forgiveness, like love, is not an emotion or feeling; it is an act of our will, yielded to God in obedience to His Word that allows His love to flow out to others.

When we fail to forgive the seed of bitterness grows like a silent cancer within us. Clinging to our hurt becomes more damaging to ourselves than to those who hurt us. Somehow we think that if there is no visible punishment they are ‘getting away with it.’ No one ‘gets away’ with anything! God will judge everyone -every deed. So – give it up! Let God do what we can not, because loving your enemy is the ultimate in Christ-likeness.

All for Him
Missy