The terrible intruders!
Those thistles, I pulled out last year, and the year before, and over and over again keep coming back! I think I have them out, root and all, but NO!
And what's so pernicious is they grow right in the MIDDLE of the Iris bulbs! Digging them out requires injury to the bulbs, but it must be done if there is to be a weed free plant.
Is this a metaphor moment?
Am I seeing my sins? Maybe, the ones I confess over and over, that keep me on my knees?
What's worse is that when I’m done with one, another takes its place, growing right in the middle of what I'd hoped was good fruit, or flowering beauty.
Only You, Jesus, I give You my ground, weeds, and all.
Pernicious, what exactly does that mean? I wasn’t sure, so I looked it up, and it means “To have a harmful effect, especially in a gradual and subtle way”, or in my mind, I would describe it as, “You don’t even see it coming.” It is something that happens so slowly over time, that you never even noticed it until it had already done damage.
Some examples of these things could be harmful habits that destroy your body and affect your health over time, self-defeating thoughts, lack of confidence, or fears that hold you back from doing great things, and the things that eat you up inside that nobody even knows about. These are some of the thistles that we think we have gotten rid of at the root, but then in certain situations, they seem to pop back up, and these are the thistles that can break our hearts and hurt for a time, but the strength that remains after they are removed comes from God alone. It is His strength, and He is the one who empowers us to overcome the world!