invasives...

this blog entry could be titled nothing but invasives...

yesterday, JMG training was excellent. a bit of a surprise when the first hours of the day were spent making crafts for gardening to teach students in the future about gardenin, but none-the-less, i still learned so much.

in the pm, after a sack lunch and time spent with some of my closest girls in the program, we went back to class to learn about all of the invasive plants, trees, vines, ground cover, aquatic plants, etc that are invasive to the ecosystem in Texas. the lady teaching it was very animated and made it interesting. looking around the room, i saw my classmates falling asleep in the dark-room, some taking notes, and others with glazed over eyes- not caring a bit in the world about what she was informing us about.

i kind of got giggly during her presentation. she knew so much about so much! it was amazing to see her passion shining through and that is what i want to address in this note.

passion. and how it ties into invasive things, people, etc in life.

for a long time, i have lived my daily life being passionate (or what i find passionate) about things that i love. i usually don't hesitate in sharing with others about these thoughts, ideas, creative likings, etc. usually it strikes up great conversations with people and great memories for future stories to be told, however....there always is however. lately, looking around at my environment, classmates, people at church, people I see every day...i am learning there are not just invasive plants in this world, but people. the master gardener said that invasives are FOREIGN to an area and CAUSE DESTRUCTION to the location that they have decided to take over.

foreign and destructive.

in my Christian walk, this alarms me, yet makes me rejoice. i am writing this to encourage those reading who have found invasive people, ideas, plans, things, jobs, etc in their lives to handle them. unlike invasive plants, (the lady yesterday says that most are impossible to get rid of), i think that through the Love of Christ acting on our surroundings as believers we can terminate the invasive culture and mindset of those around us. it seems like a large challenge, but hey, i like challanges. i haven't gotten to where i am at age 21 without a slew of them to remind me that invasive people, places, and things are in the past to Christ.

i challenge myself and whomever shall read this today, to not feed the invasives (with gossip*, slander, ego-feeding, people-pleasing*, etc, etc) with things of this world. it is important that we take care of them at their roots (sometimes one common root or the many that they have developed over time). change their hearts. using the Holy Spirit as our guide, we can uproot that icky plant (that detroys everything in its way), and grow a new plant from the ground up.

time? yes. this takes time. lots of time.
patience? yes. this takes patience.
care? yes. this takes some TLC- big time.

but what does Christ say?
"Brothers, whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me."

God wiped out his people in the days of Noah. He knew he needed to start over. I am NOT saying wipe out the people of our generation. Good gracious, no! Things changed in the New Testament....we no longer have to die completely. Christ has been there and done that...instead we renew ourselves each day, by dying to ourselves and sins (those invasive traits that we as well as everyone else has) and choose to grow natively and beautifully in our natural surroundings that God has placed each of us in.

I pray today is a great day. I pray that we can begin to notice the invasive things in our lives that are taking over us and those we love around us. Where will I begin? me.