It's a weed... well, maybe it's not!

As I said in an earlier post, this is our family's first real vegetable garden, beyond tomatoes & peppers. But if you were to drive into our yard, it would become obvious that we've been gardening for awhile. Our yard is full of flower beds. I LOVE the cottage garden look & feel, where there are flowers everywhere with no real rhyme or reason to it all. I love having veggies mixed with flowers mixed with herbs. And I have weeds. Some of these weeds have been pulled over & over but still seem to rear their ugly heads. The past few years, though, I've been letting some of those "weeds" have their way in my garden. Letting them be & discovering some amazing things about them.

Like plantain... ALL over our yard, without weed killer it would be utterly impossible to get rid of this "pest". After a little research into the herb world, however, this little weed has very powerful astringent properties making it a miracle cure for mosquito bites, to say the least!

Another good one is stinging nettle. This thing is PAINFUL!
If you are going to pull this one, you must wear leather gloves, as to not be stung by it's little hairs that cover it's body. After more research, I found it was possibly good as an antihistamine & very good at increasing circulation. This is a short testimony of its healing powers...

I had no idea of the true healing power.by Editor on May 29, 2009

My dad is a type two diabetic. With this he has also been diagnosed with neuropathy. His nerve endings "died" and according to his Dr. was going to have to have fingers, toes, and eventually feet and hands amputated as they died. We were out harvesting stinging nettles for tea a few years ago, when he decided he was going to pick them for me so I didn't have to wear
gloves he could just do it himself. He picked for 45mins. When he started
to get feeling back in his hands. He was so joyous not have had feeling at all for three years in his hands or feet. He proceeded to take his shoes off and walk all over the nettle plants until he started 'feeling' the burn. Praise the Lord! I knew it was good for diabetics as a tea I had no idea of
the true healing power. God is so awesome. Blessings, S. C

Two that I have routinely pulled from my garden are very good & good for you, purslane & lamb's quarter. We have started cultivating them & adding them to our salads.

The only reason I ever thought these were weeds is because someone told me they were. I trusted that someone without ever doing more research on my own.

Reminds me of my own life. What is it that I have believed just because someone said it. I didn't check into it. I didn't do any research. I didn't really even think about it. I just believed. I'm learning though. My husband said to me one time, "The hardest thing for me was to realize that everything I've ever known was wrong." That is a profound statement.

I have always believed that being bold was wrong, that sticking up for what was right, was just being a trouble maker, starting problems, being dramatic. Now, I realize that I must stand for what is right no matter how someone reacts. My duty is to stand. Their reaction is not my fault. How freeing! Maybe boldness is not a weed... Maybe the "stinging" that someone feels when I am bold is really God trying to wake their conscience up...

I have always believed that I must say things subtly, trying not to offend, trying to be politically correct. Paul was not politically correct. Peter wasn't politically correct. Jesus was not politically correct. Actually, these men were the exact opposite most times. Maybe being politically correct & sacrificing truth is really just creative manipulation & lying. Definitely a weed... Maybe the truth does hurt sometimes...

I've always thought that if I talked about my feelings, my emotions, then no one could argue with me, because they are mine. But, sometimes those emotions & feelings are WRONG! They are not based on fact, but past experiences, etc. Sometimes, my feelings don't matter. I need to suck it up and obey. Stop complaining & do it.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Die to my flesh & pick up my cross & follow Him.

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Focusing on my feelings instead of on Him is a weed...

There's more... I pray that I will continue to be to be shown things that are weeds & things that are not.

I pray that I will not be open minded but Christ minded. That as I seek the mind of Christ...

1 Corinthians 2:10 - 16

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. ¹⁴The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
¹⁶"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

John 8:32

And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free.