"THOU SHALL ARM THYSELF"

"Weeds.....

 .....the 'bullies' of flower beds"

This morning I was pulling weeds. Yep, pulling up those ole pesky nuisances out of my very pretty flower beds.

Hey....you want a glimpse into how my crazy brain works? Well, here's a taste:

As I began towards the front flower beds, I noticed the thorns on these particular weeds were actually bigger and thicker than any I had ever seen before. I saw Kevin and Steele in the batting cage and I said (loud enough for both to hear.)

"Dang! these thorns are gonna eat my skin up, yall. They will surely go through these ole cheapy garden gloves of mine."

Kevin said, "Well, hold on a sec and I'll go get you mine. They are way thicker and I'll be surprised if any are able to prick ya."

 (So off he goes to find his garden gloves for me.)

I'm standing there staring at those weeds while my husband runs in to find me his gloves...... and I start thinking to myself, "Those are the ugliest, scariest and most overbearing weeds I've ever seen out here."

They had thick, thick thorns and were trying to grow in-between and all around my beautiful flowers. They were literally trying to overtake my flower bed.

I literally thought to myself, while staring at those weeds, "You little bullies. Trying to take over my sweet innocent flowers." (I promise you this is what I thought...and yes.....I am fully aware that that is not normal) ha!

Anyway, once he came back with his garden gloves, I noticed that his gloves were much thicker and would most definitely protect my hands from those thorns.

*They were just the right "armor" for my hands. I was fully prepared now. Not scared one bit.

I reached in the flower bed ready to pull out these huge, intimidating, thorny weeds...... I knew they must be deep by how big they were, so I was ready to use a little muscle when pulling them up.

 But I discovered the opposite....Those silly ole things slid right out of the ground! I hardly had to use any muscle at all!

They were so WEAK!

That's when my wheels started spinning a little bit.

I thought...That's kinda like the bullies in our own lives if you think about it!

Bullies often appear out of nowhere! They are good at showing you their "thorns". They are brilliant at taking over your space....especially the space inside your mind......

 They seem to overwhelm and consume those pretty things all around them, right?

HOWEVER, if we ARM OURSELVES....with JUST THE RIGHT ARMOR.....THE ARMOR OF GOD..... then we discover that those big, scary, intimidating bullies are actually VERY VERY WEAK!

With God, your armor is so thick and so strong that it can hardly be penetrated by any harmful thorns (no matter how thick they seem!).

And you almost have to laugh once you discover just how very weak they really are! You realize that you are able to pull them up with hardly any muscle at all. Their facade is completely blown!

They are weak and easily dispersed of.....

Yep.....Weak. Weak. Weak.

But you can't get too comfortable though...because it is usually after a storm that they are able to grow by leaps and bounds. And we are vulnerable too..... after a life-storm..... and they know it.

 They take advantage of that. They come up again. They grow. They consume. And they hurt.

But here's the good news.......(about bullies).....once you discover how weak they really are ..and with God as your proper armor...you realize that in fact, they ain't nothin but an ugly, thorny, eye-sore that has no strong roots....no firm foundation. You will win EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Don't let mean-spirited people (or bullies) overtake your beauty.

Arm yourself....then grow...and grow and GROW!

****and this is the life inside of my brain.***

*wink*

As ever,
Teri