Matthew 13:29-30 NLT 
“No,” he replied, “you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.”
Last autumn and winter, Jayne and I couldn’t get out into the Oratory garden, because of the bad weather. We had extended a flower border over the summer and we knew that the weeds would fight back. When the good weather returned in March, our fears were confirmed.  
Weeding was not simply a matter of digging and lifting unwelcome grasses. I often had to lift a whole plant in order to extricate it from the weeds, which seemed to establish themselves in the very heart, making it difficult not to destroy the plant with the weed. The clearing work took three weeks, and I considered what I might learn from it.  
The reflection proved helpful. Too often I look to God to change my behaviours and habits, aspects of my life that I feel control me. How lovely if a simple prayer of deliverance could completely set me free. Such freedom is God’s promise, yet demands our collaboration. My flower border needed rescuing from weeds. One approach would have destroyed productive plants along with the weeds. Other methods required painstaking work, separating weed from plants. Some were replanted, in the hope that roots weakened through displacement might recover. Every single one did revive, although many struggled for a couple of days. 
Weeds constantly try to choke the very life of God. We’re designed by God to flourish in a unique way. The good news is that every year we weed, the land will become more fertile, and less vulnerable to the weeds, under the care of the gardener. In the same way, we are invited to flourish under the care of the Master Gardener.  
QUESTION: How can we make sure that our soil is the best it can be? 
PRAYER: Show me the weeds in my life, Lord, and the best way to remove them. 

Released on 15 Sep 2020