Grace Lutheran Church

A Soul Well Watered

Last week during a sunny June afternoon I took a couple hours and launched an assault on the dandelion population that has invaded the lawns in front of the church. It was such a gorgeous day; being outside was refreshing, and pulling up dandelions by the root has an oddly satisfying effect on me.

More than one person stopped as they were walking by, noticing my plight, and commented on it's futility. “You’re not going to win,” said one neighbour laughing, and I suspect she had fought her own battles with the hardy weed. Wisdom from experience.

As a large blister formed in the palm of my right hand, and I continued to push the flat-head screwdriver into the ground beside each carrot-like root, I asked myself, “why am I doing this, anyway?”

I thought of the grass. For whatever reason, we prefer grass to dandelions. But dandelions are surely stronger than the grass, and their deep tap-roots drain the precious moisture that the grass needs.

That’s how our lives feel sometimes. We would like to bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, but more urgent demands of life sometimes drain our best energy and leave us dried up. Some behaviours become stubborn weeds, taking over our lives, sucking the life out of us.

Addictions are like that, and they’re more common than you think. Not just drug and alcohol abuse, but unhealthy relationships with other people, addictions to food, work, entertainment, and even exercise can take over our lives.

Take the time to notice what’s growing in your life this summer. Is it what you want to be growing? Is it what God wants?

If the fruit of His spirit is being choked out by the dandelions in your life, find their roots and weed them out! That might start with some humble self-examination, and lead to a change of priorities as you confess your brokenness and hear the words of life. The community of sinners and saints at Grace Lutheran can help you with that. For at our center is the message of Jesus and it’s a matter of death and life. He loves you too much to let your life go to the weeds. This summer, let Him re-arrange your priorities, and bring true joy to your well-watered soul.

Galatians 5:19–24

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (ESV)

With love, joy, and blistered hands from your pastor and his family,

Curtis, Andrea, Kara, Jonas and Judah Boehm