Pull Weeds

As he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

About a hundred years ago, the British writer James Allen wrote a little book titled As a Man Thinketh. In the book, Allen said the thoughts we cultivate in our minds will grow up and will show up in our attitudes, actions, and words. “A [person’s] mind may be likened to a garden,” he wrote, “which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”^a

In other words, every garden becomes a hopeless thicket of vines, grass, scrubs, briers, and nettles unless a dedicated gardener seeds, feeds, and weeds it. Our minds and our lives are the same. We’ve got to weed the bad thoughts out of our minds and the bad habits out of our conduct.

With God’s help, we can cultivate our thoughts, pulling up weeds and planting the fertile seed of His Word. With Christ’s help, we can rid our lives of bad habits, one by one.

Take care of your garden, and keep out the weeds; fill it up with sunshine, kind words and kind deeds.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW