Whose weeds are you pulling?

One of the first lessons that God taught me in the garden was probably 20 years ago. After a time of moving around, I had a cute little rent house in Podunk where I had a chance to plant some veggies.

One day I was babysitting a friend's kids. While Austin and Michael played GI Joe or some other guy thing, 5-year-old Crystal and I decided to work in the garden. My goal was to get a start on pulling weeds, and she was eager to help.

After we'd worked side by side for a while, I noticed that Crystal had moved to a new section of the garden and was busily pulling up some tiny weeds that were curiously growing in a row. She was proud that she was doing a great job as a helper. Suddenly I realized that she had pulled up nearly all of the tiny carrot sprouts! I knew it was my fault because I had failed to point out what was NOT weeds.

The Lord then told me, "Katy, that's what happens when some of my children get overly eager to 'help' in other people's lives. Often only the Master Gardener can tell the weeds from the sprouts." I've tried to remember that lesson whenever I want to help someone else clean up their act. Sometimes what looks like a weed to me might actually be a sprout of growth that I don't recognize.

So when you help others tend to their "gardens", leave the "weed-pulling" for the One Who Knows.