What Weeds Can Teach Us About Life

Let's be honest: weeding is not much fun. 

Some days it can be a minor annoyance, and others it can seem to be the most overwhelming task to undertake in the world (especially when your garden gets alot of rain)! 

My wife and I are in our sophomore year of gardening as a couple (my lack of experience stems from growing up in a garden-less urban community) and I am continuing to learn the best-practices associated with gardening. 

To say there is a steep learning curve would be an understatement. 

The first hurdle? Figuring out what is a weed. And what isn't. (Which is sometimes really hard to do!)

Then there is the constant need for watering, harvesting, pruning, and of course - tons of weeding. 

Now let me clarify that I don't find all of weeding to be a terribly painful activity. There are some workdays when I go out to my garden to weed solely so I can feel like I've accomplished something that day (ever had any of those days?). Going out to the garden and pulling some annoying weeds can be a great activity to help me process the day's events and clear my mind. 

But if I go several days without spending any time weeding my garden? I dread those times. Because I know that the weeds are going to be rampant throughout my garden and are going to be encroaching on my precious produce. Leaving me with the frustrating task of hours of weeding in order to get my garden looking healthy again. 

And here's the thing, I know that I can avoid those terrible, hours-long weeding sessions. All I have to do is simply spend a small amount of time every day weeding. By doing that I avoid the snowball effect of the weeds quickly taking over my garden. When I weed everyday I am able to focus my little bit of time on the largest weeds and keep them from conquering my cucumbers or cilantro. 

When I weed my garden every single day: the work is more manageable, the weeds don't take over, and I am able to enjoy all the produce I grow even more!

Now this can relate to the rest of our lives pretty easily right? 

Working on a school paper is alot more manageable when you work on it for 4 weeks over cranking it out the night before it's due. 

Relationships last a whole lot longer when we invest in that relationship every day, rather than once a week on date night. 

Our relationship with God is strongest when we spend time with Him every day. 

Our health is at it's best when we exercise and eat healthy on an ongoing basis (minus cheat days for things like pizza and pumpkin pie of course...) rather than just getting a gym membership for the month of January.

And any passion and interest will only improve when we treat them with the same discipline a gardener has to practice with respect to weeding a garden. 

“The most important things in our life require consistent hard work. ”

Whether it be your relationship with God, your friendships, a hobby or a job - what do you want to improve in your life? And how do you plan on getting there? 

Without a plan - and without work everyday - not much will change. 

“Life, unlike school, cannot be conquered by cramming. ”

Spend some time today writing down what you want to improve in your life. Map out how you can take one step in the right direction with those goals. And then start putting in the consistent work, day in and day out, in that direction.

Let's get weeding!