For those of you who know me, this won't come as a surprise. I hate yard work. The mowing, weed-eating and other essentials of maintaining a yard represent, to me, the very definition of the word "chore". And if you've driven by our house lately, you'd shout a hearty "Amen".

Even though this summer has been relatively cool, the recent hot & dry conditions are really taking their toll on our lawn (I hate having to give water to the dog, so I'm sure not going to waste it on the grass.) So for the past few weeks, our lawn has been turning a strange color, somewhere between yellow and brown.

Except for a few spots here and there, which are a deep shade of green. I mean, those spots are really green. And growing much faster than the rest of the yard. You might say "growing like a weed". Because they are weeds.

I have always marveled at this phenomenon. While the plants and lawn struggle to survive, the weeds thrive. Since I rarely water or fertilize the yard, it is going dormant, but the weeds are doing great.

Which is exactly what it's like in the spiritual realm. If you nurture your spiritual life through Bible study, prayer, worship and service, then it can thrive. But if you ignore it--just do nothing--then the weeds move in and take over. The weed of worry. The weed of anger. The weed of doubt. You don't have to water these weeds for them to do well. You don't have to feed them for them to spread. And before long, all you have is a spiritual yard of weeds.

Getting rid of weeds once they've taken root is much tougher than preventing them in the first place. So if you recognize that your spiritual yard is looking a little rough, take action now to keep it from looking like my front lawn.