Roasted pigs and male pattern baldness

It's spring, finally, and as the old saying goes "a young man's heart turns to love".  Once they are older, and married, the saying changes for most.  It is now more commonly "spring is here and a man's heart turns to lawn".  At least that is the case here in this household.  Our front yard has some really nice grass, what there is of it.  Don't get me wrong, I would say the majority of the yard is covered, I guess, for the most part, more or less.  J spends time putting all sorts of products and potions out in the quest for a healthy lawn.  He has now added seeding the lawn to the list so, hopefully, before long, it won't look like a middle aged man with a receding hairline!  Last Saturday I discovered he was putting lime out on the yard.  (not the small green ones that go so well with lemons)  It seems he was changing the ph balance of the soil to encourage the seed to grow and prosper.  When I actually stopped and listened to him ramble on and on  talk about the process I learned something.  There is a simple way to keep the grass healthy and the weeds at bay.  It all has to do with the soil.  That's where the lime came in.  The grass likes an alkaline soil where the weeds prefer a soil with a little more acid.  Keep the ph balance correct and you won't have to worry about weeds popping up.  If the weeds don't take root, you don't have to pull them up.

I was out in the front yard this afternoon with the Charlie the dog while he contributed to the lawn's acidity level and something occurred to me.  My heart is a lot like this lawn.  (no, it doesn't contain a furry little dog who thinks he's a human!) There are so many things in life that can change the ph balance of the soil of your heart.  The acid of unforgivness, bitterness, self-pity, deceit, anger and so many other things make an ideal place for weeds to crop up in your heart's front yard.  It's not always the big things, though that do the most damage.  Sometimes it's a little thing, a time when we choose not to die to self, but to indulge our flesh in a seemingly innocuous activity.  The word says in 1 Cor 10:23  "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify".  We no longer live under the law, but under grace.  It's no longer considered sin to sit down to a pork sandwich, pork fried rice, sweet and sour pork, pork spareribs, roasted pork tenderloin... uh, you get the picture.  While it's not sin, is it profitable for me if I eat half the pig?  I may desire to consume most of the little piggy but it's my responsibility to control my fleshly desires and keep my stomach under control.  Denying our flesh is one way we heap lime on the soil of our hearts.  I'm not only referring to our stomach.  We must also consider other appetites that don't fall into the category of edifying.  What are we watching on tv? listening to on the radio? Do we find ourselves anxious to tell someone the juicy bit of gossip we heard in the ladies room before service Sunday? Do we find ourselves giving in to the urge to yell at our kids and justify it by telling ourselves "it's their fault, they know I've got PMS"??  These are all times we can choose to change the ph balance.   If we make the soil an uncomfortable place for the weeds of flesh to live we will have less trouble with them later.

There are times when I cry out to God for deliverance from this or that or sometimes the other thing too, and He will deliver, His word promises that, but I believe we have a part.  There are times when we are required to change the ph balance of our hearts first.  If that is not done then it doesn't matter how many times God pulls the weed up it is just going to keep growing back.  I am going to be transparent and admit right here and now there are some weeds in my life whose roots go pretty deep and who are pretty darn comfortable cluttering up my lawn.  In my frantic attempt to shout to the world that I was no longer under the law, I used that very fact as an excuse to no longer control the little weeds of the flesh.  I allowed them to become comfortable.  It's time for a little gardening.  It's time to decide if I'm going to take back my lawn or let it spiral downward into a nasty patch of weeds, thorns and brambles.  It's not an easy process, or maybe I should say it's not a comfortable one.  We must apply the lime of the word, water it with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and make sure it gets plenty of Son.  Sometimes we don't have to dig the weeds up ourselves, sometimes we must simply change the atmosphere of their environment and they will die out all on their own.  Once they are dead or dying it's an easy thing to just pop them out and thrown them on the fire.  I want to prepare my heart for the master gardener.  I want it to be a place totally dedicated to Him where He can come and enjoy the fruit He so desires.

Stop by sometime, I'll be here.  My house will be the one with the lawn afflicted with male pattern baldness. 

Soaked in His blessings,
Spokenfor