I weeded the carrot bed for an hour this morning – it got too hot after that. Talk about dirt time! I actually paid attention to what I was doing and it actually translated itself into a lesson in how to weed my thoughts.
For instance – you know the story of the teacher who fills up the big jar, with rocks first, then pebbles, then sand, then water? To show the class the importance of prioritizing, doing the big things first?
Well, that’s the best way for me to weed. The carrot bed had been seeded and watered, but the boys hadn’t gotten around to weeding it, so I couldn’t even see the carrot plants coming up. I could, however, see some major weedies coming. If I had gone in and just started pulling, chances are I would have pulled up the little carrot shoots along with the weeds.
I realized I had to get “the big stuff” out first. The stuff I could easily see, the stuff that was not in the row with the carrots, but was blocking the sun from them. Once I did that, I could actually see the line of carrot plants, and I could go through and pull the stuff that was inhibiting them from freely growing.
That’s how our habits come to light. First we have to deal with the “big stuff,” the stuff we can see, that blocks our view of the Truth. As we “pull out those weeds,” the essence and joy of Truth becomes more visible, and so does the “little stuff” that inhibits our ready acceptance and adoption of that Truth. Sometimes the smaller, seemingly insignificant weeds are in the way, but we can’t see them until we get rid of the big weeds. And the longer we leave the weeding process, the bigger the weeds blocking our view.
This morning I finished pulling out “the big stuff.” Now I can see where the smaller stuff is encroaching on the carrot plants. But, and this is BIG – I can ALSO see the carrot plants! I can SEE the TRUTH!