Weeding inside and out

so I can write

I did not expect to write so little at this point in 2025. June marks one year of Substack writing which included one of my favorites, I Wonder. Each season has its own priorities. Maturity requires knowing the prominence each aspect of life should take in which measure. Writing has had to take a backseat while weeds are cleared both figuratively, as well as physically.

Our poor flowerbeds have looked atrocious for many months while our family has lived in survival mode for more weeks, months, years than I care to remember. Working in the soil, on hands and knees, is so gratifying to me. Taking chaos to create order, peace, beauty. It is refreshing. Miraculously, it is something that stays relatively the same for weeks at a time (minus those pesky weeds and opposed to order in the house which unravels at impossible speeds). Armed with hope of change, I have spent hours bent over hand tilling our clay mixing in topsoil, pulling weeding, planting beauty.

Similarly, in personal and family life, I’ve done the same. I have spent tireless hours addressing weedy problems left unattended for years. The reasons of inattention as numerous as the “weeds” themselves, deeply entrenched in our lives yet unruly and unwelcome.

In one particular flowerbed we have had countless thorny weeds which have spread over the years of neglect. I never could just grab them without gloves, I rarely had on gloves, so they just remained while I glowered at them and they mocked me in my silent to do list.

So they flourished.

Unchecked.

Just like other areas in life which it seemed we didn’t have time to diligently pursue. But now, like the weeds, those sins are more arduous to uproot, requiring constant diligence. I’ve had to pull out the spade repeatedly while the soil is soft from abundant rain to dig far below ground to find the end of the root. In both cases, my eyes are trained on the future—diligence now will produce rewards later—and hopefully, the longer we care for the weeds around us, the easier we can care for them the next time they appear. For they will inevitably resurface.

Decluttering our home is another area I’ve poured lots of time and energy into during 2025. I actually enjoy decluttering and organizing, but it can be time consuming to do it well. Many areas of our home function fairly well to the point outsiders would never suspect the chaos that is hidden within various closets or drawers. And isn’t that the same in many of our lives. Others do not know what we have buried, but it is there seen by our All-Knowing God.

Weeding, decluttering, sanctification. All different manifestations of similar processes. Remove the unwanted, unnecessary, inhibiting (and sinful. . . . for that is where there is a difference!) to create clear space for abundant flourishing. So while I may not be outwardly producing much writing at this time, stick with me—God is deep at work uprooting the weeds that inhibit growth, decluttering the unnecessary leftovers of the past, sanctifying me into his image so that in the months to come I hope it will be time for flourishing.