Mulch and Roots

So, thanks to a good night sleep and some determination, I got up this am and got back in the flowerbeds….today’s mission was to clean around the big bushes, clean up the debris piles from yesterday, and start putting down mulch….and as I was attempting to clean up the underbrush from under the bushes, little branches would scratch my skin, but I kept it moving because I didn’t want to stop my momentum…so I worked steadily and with my husband P and my oldest son Aaron outside cutting/trimming the grass, we were working like a well-oiled machine…then came time to put down the mulch…bags one and two were simple to do with no problem…oh, but bag 3 had a surprise…FLYING ANTS!!! But I didn’t cuss this time, I just took the bag to the road and made a mental note on how to redistribute the rest of the bags (my mom gave me 10 bags for mother’s day; the last time I used mulch I needed 20 bags of mulch, just for the front flowerbeds, again, given to me by my mom)…I grabbed bag 4 and started pouring and positioning the mulch and noticed that there were SO MANY ROOTS!! I realized that there was no way that I could ever rid myself of those dreaded roots, at least not right now. So I went every few inches and cut the roots and gathered what I could. In addition, I also noticed that I didn’t have enough mulch to completely cover the flowerbeds front to back…but that’s ok, because I grew up in the Holley household, where “making do” was necessary and expected….so I put mulch in the front of the plants and bushes, taking time to stand back and look to see what it looked like from the road (I learned to do that from my mom)…and lo and behold, one of my neighbors drives up ( one of Aaron’s principals) and gets out of her car and hands me a Gatorade, explaining that she had seen me working hard in the yard this morning and wanted to help cool me off…..and these are the thoughts that came to mind as I worked and drank my Gatorade lol……1) When we neglect our spiritual lives, sin can become so entrenched in your life, that when you finally make the decision to recommit yourself to God, that sin can seem like those roots in my flowerbeds, too numerous and entangling to be freed from…2) So what do you do when you try to free yourself from the sin that entangles your life? Do you give up and stay entangled? Sometimes that does feel like the easiest thing to do…but I encourage you not to give up…3) Take you some mulch and scissors(prayer, godly support system, study of the Word, and a determined spirit) and work at ridding yourself of the sinful roots that keep you from enjoying a peaceful life, a joyous salvation..4) And no one said that it would be easy, that you won’t experience some emotional, spiritual, or even some physical pain in this process, but it is all worth it in the end (as I am sitting here writing this, my back hurts and I am scratched up something awful, but it was worth it to me, because I feel proud of the work we have done this week to beautify our home)…..