Well At Least I Don't...

...drink, smoke, party, have a boyfriend/girlfriend, swear, or any of that other stuff!

Great. Good for you. We're so happy for you.

But.

What about the other stuff you don't do?

Like doing devotions every single day... or like showing your siblings love often... or like thanking your parents for all they do... or giving of your time when you'd rather be sleeping/reading/emailing/whatever else you like to do... or putting other's interests ahead of your own... or all the other good things you know you ought to be doing...

What about that stuff? Yes, yes, we're glad you don't do the "really bad" stuff. But... aren't we forgetting something? What about the stuff we are supposed to do?

We can't just sit around all the time with our grand list of "I don't do this or that or this other thing..."

We need to DO SOMETHING!!

Go. Right now. (Okay fine, you can finish this post. But as soon as you're done. *mom-type I-mean-it look*) Go do something that you've been needing to do. Go talk to God. Go give your little sister a hug. Go ask for forgiveness from your brother (or whoever it is...). Write a thank you note. Clean your room. Do SOMETHING.

Oh, and by the way, those "little" "mistakes" that we "good kids" make are just as bad (or worse!! Since we know we ought not do them) as those "big" ones. Of course, the big ones may bring heavier consequences more quickly (i.e. Smoking will get you lung cancer and so on) but the little ones are just as deadly to our character: they may start out little, but, unless you take the necessary action, they will grow.

I think about this often when I am weeding in my garden... I generally go out there a few times a week (nearly daily) and take out these little tiny weeds. They are very easy to pull out, since they are so small and the roots are so shallow. Every time (or nearly every...) I think about my life. I think, wow, if I was this vigilant with my thoughts and habits, getting rid of any bad ones promptly, I would be doing so much better!

It's so much easier to pull out little tiny weeds... once you let them get taller, the roots get deeper and stronger, and it's much harder to get rid of them. If you only pull off the top part of the plant, and neglect to dig out the roots, the weed will come back... with a vengeance. If you wait for months and years to take care of them, they will completely overtake your garden-- and kill your flowers.

What an amazing picture of our lives gardens are!! I'm sure you were able to see the similarities between the weeds and sin... it's really quite obvious, so I won't spell it out. :)

Oh, and just in case you forgot: Go do your something. RIGHT NOW! hehe, and you thought you could get away with just reading this... :D (I'm going to go help with clean up now...)

Why are you still here? *raises eyebrows* Go!

And then, (since you didn't listen yet) come back and comment and let us know what you did! :)