the one about weeds

We moved into this house 4 years ago in April. Crazy. Anyway, when we moved in there was some really nice landscaping around the house. The previous owners had paid to have the yard professionally done. The flower beds had weed netting in them and everything looked great. There is really only one big flower bed and it's right outside the kitchen off the back patio. I never took a picture of it, but something similar to this:

Flowers, random plants, and lots of bark. Well, you all know that I aspire to be much more than I am, but gardener isn't even on the list. I don't like gardening. I think beautiful yards are great, and yay for the people who do it, but I just don't want to spend my life planting flowers and pulling weeks. A vegetable garden I get, because you get to eat your hard work, but flower beds I don't get. So, after 4 years of two dachshunds digging holes and pulling up the netting and some total and utter apathy on my part, this is what the flower bed looks like today:

I could have taken an actual picture of the weed garden, but that might be just a tad bit too honest for my taste. Suffice it to say that the weeds are out of control and it is ugly.

Once or twice a year I give in to the pressure [mostly from my husband] and the guilt [my mother owns this house and highly values a nice yard] and I go outside and tackle the flower bed. It takes several multiple hour shifts on multiple days to get it down to an acceptable level. Each time I'm out there sweating and pulling up stubborn weeds, I can't help but reflect on how this little flower bed is much like my spiritual life.
It doesn't matter that the garden was planted by a great gardener, the tending of it is up to me. I sure do appreciate the way things are when the garden is clean, healthy, and growing, but my apathy allows far too many weeds to grow. And weeds are HARD to get rid of.
This analogy isn't new. Jesus spent much of His time talking about gardens and weeds. I can't imagine how many countless believers have yanked at a stubborn weed only to reflect on the state of their heart. But yesterday as I spent an hour pulling weeds I was truly overcome at how apathetic I have been lately. In my ministry one of my least favorite things to hear from a college student is that they are "too busy" for Jesus. It makes me want to puke. College students just have no idea how much time is on their hands. But, for the past two months I've been living out that excuse in my life. I'm too busy, too tired, too pregnant, I have a newborn, I haven't slept in days...you get the picture. It's not that I feel my life is overcome with weeds, it's that I haven't spent any time with my Creator. I have neglected the author of my life just because I've been consumed with me.

My prayer is that for the next few days I keep the image of those weeds at the forefront of my mind and I spend time just being with Jesus.
I posted this because I always work well with a little accountability. Now that I know that you know that I'm a slacker maybe it'll keep me a tad more motivated. Hope you're walking with Jesus, my friends.