Photo By: Shawn Rause
Pulling-out weeds is terrible. My mom has one heck of a green thumb and as a chore she would make me pull weeds for hours in the hot North Carolina sun every year. To make it worse North Carolina’s soil is a hard orange clay, so it is hard to dig with your hands. At some point you need a tool or two to help. Oh, and make sure you come prepared with bug spray and be sure to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt. Why you ask? Because in North Carolina mosquitos are definitely a thing as are snakes and spiders. The kind of snakes and spiders that kill!
Combing through your own mental weeds can be just as much of a grueling process- truly a battle. Why? As believers, the Bible says we are to constantly renew our minds through God’s Word. We are constantly changing if we are truly becoming more like Jesus. In order to make way for our renewed mind and spirit we must let the parts that are not like Jesus die. We have to get rid of the weeds (Colossians 3:3-5).
If you know the nature of pulling weeds, then you understand that in order to really pull a weed out, you must get to its roots. Did you know most people’s thoughts are negative? And did you know many of our negative thoughts are recycled? In Jennie Allen’s book, “Get Out Of Your Head”, she discusses this exact concept by challenging her readers to write down the top ten thoughts they have every day for the next week, highlighting how many of them are negative and then using a different highlighter on the thoughts the reader had the previous day.
As humans we typically do not take the time to address the deep, hurtful things we are thinking or feeling. Instead, we take the easy route. We mow over our thoughts and emotions…cutting the “weeds” back just barely enough so they can quickly grow again. Sometimes we can even go out and use our money or resources and hope to just spray it away? The quick fix of renewing the mind is typically just a temporary fix. You never truly get to the roots- freeing yourself from the entire problem.
If you find yourself thinking about the same issue or negative thought from a week ago or a year ago or even a decade ago, consider that you have a deeply rooted weed you need to address. You are worth taking the time to dig – to get to the roots of any negative thinking patterns or behaviors formed from these deeply rooted thoughts. Invest in yourself and God will surely bless you for your diligence. He loves you more than you could imagine and wants you to know who you are in Him alone.
Ready to do some digging? We can help. Contact LifeCare Counseling and Coaching for your appointment and step towards healing: www.lifecarecc.com or call 919-851-1527. Yolandi is currently taking new clients.