Introducing... Poop and Weeds Wednesday

Yes, you read it right. Poop and Weeds Wednesday. :)

No, this is not more potty humor stories... Although, those seem to abound in our household.

Actually, this is the beginning of a weekly devotional post that will last through the next several months. You see, about a year or two ago, before I was pregnant, before I blogged... before I was thinking about any of these things... I was randomly inspired to go clean up my back yard. At the time, it was filled with weeds and our dog's poop. Cleaning it up was quite a chore. But somewhere in between pulling weeds and carrying the loads to the trash can, I felt God whispering to me to write a devotional. So I put down my gardening tools, took off my gloves, and headed up to the computer. I wrote a short devotional, which I then saved and shoved in a drawer. It stayed there for over a year.

Now I know that I was supposed to write that devotional for such a time as this.

This is the introduction of the devotional, titled, "Thank you God for Poop and Weeds." Each week I'll post the next section. I'm not guaranteeing anything deserving of the Pulitzer Prize! But I promise you these words are from my heart. I pray God speaks to you through them.

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Thank You God for Poop and Weeds

Mark 4:3-20

"Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed... Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.

"Are you listening to this? Really listening?
‘…Whose eyes are open but don't see a thing,

Whose ears are open but don't understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.’”

"He continued, "Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way. The farmer plants the Word… The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it,

…and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams."

The Message Bible
Some verses omitted

Introduction

Today I went out into my backyard on a mission. To conquer the weeds in my yard. My yard is somewhat connected to my pride… I’m learning to let go of this. But I still find great pleasure in looking out into the back yard, seeing that it is well-manicured, green, and well… pretty.

Right now, it is not any of those things.

You see, our sprinkler system is broken, and neither my husband nor I have thought our yard a high enough priority to spend an hour and a half, twice a week watering it. So right now, our landscaping is composed of various shades of brown and weeds. “That doesn’t trample my spirit though!” I thought triumphantly, this afternoon after church. “No matter! Weeds must be pulled anyway!” And another thought occurred to me: “Certainly, there must be corners of my yard that are protected by shade, where the little moisture we get here in Colorado, is well-received and where plants grow and flourish and there is still living grass to save!”

Sure enough, I did find such a corner. And I set in to work.

As I set to work, lashing out life’s frustrations on the weeds, and enjoying the physical work of it, I began to think… and God began to speak to me. He reminded me of the Parable of the Sower, and he began to show me how much our spiritual lives are very much like the backyard grass. One parallel after another came to me, and I am now convinced, that God gave us weeds and poop – yes, that’s right… I said poop, too – in order to help us understand the importance of rooting out evil in our lives, in order that we may live a more abundant, life-giving, full life in God.

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Over the next several months, I'll share with you what those parallels are. Come back next week! In the mean time, would you share what this story means to you? Do so in the comments section, so all can enjoy and benefit.