Living Joyfully: Painful Weeds of Life

We have an avocado tree, and last week my husband noticed something growing out from behind it. At first glance, whatever it was blended in with the tree, but upon further inspection we discovered a long, hideously spiky weed protruding out of the avocado tree.

The weed appeared to be part of the tree, but in reality, it was stealing nutrients from it. My husband pulled out the sharp, spiky weed and got several painful scrapes on his arms in the process.

The weed reminded me of our negative attitudes, our bad habits, and the other things like anger and bitterness that steal the joy from our lives. We may think it's just a part of us ("I'm just a pessimist!"), but in reality, the negative attitudes and bad habits are taking away the joy that we were meant to experience.

But, like my husband's scrapes and cuts, it's not easy and painless to change our attitude. And it doesn't happen overnight. But, in order to live a life of joy, it's important to prune our negativity and bad habits; to keep them from choking our perspective.

When Junior was in the early stages of diagnosis, and I wondered if joy was even possible when everything seemed to be going wrong, God taught me that while things change and circumstances change, He never changes. And He showed me that as difficult as things were, there were always things to be grateful for. I still grieved, and I'm still constantly "pulling the weeds" of comparison and discontentment (believe me, it's been a painful process), but I'm finally realizing that a little painful pruning now beats a lifetime of giving away my joy to the weeds of life. 


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