Pulling the Weeds and Fixing the Stinkies

So many common tasks in life bring out hidden attitudes or problems in my life. I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this phenomenon or not. I'll give you a gardening example and then to close, I'll tell you how I fix the stinkies. Seeing how it's summer and we planted a little garden, I've been tending to it. Tasks like pulling weeds, staking up tomato plants, and thinning lettuce plants have been part of my gardening. As I'm performing these tasks, I often think how much they relate to my own life. Pulling weeds = weeding out bad attitudes and habits, staking plants = asking for help and accountability with problem areas and thinning plants = removing some of the even good things in order for the best things to flourish.

Weeds, I've observed, can be surface roots and evasive ground cover or they can be deep rooted and tall. Either way, they need to be pulled and sometimes dug up. Weeds in my life are the same way. Some are more surface and don't take too much effort to pull them out of my life and get back on track. Others are rooted deep and take much more time and effort to pull/dig out.

Staking the tomato plants helps them to not fall over making the tomatoes all mushy and rotten. My friends who pray for me and lift me up certainly help me not to fall over damaging the hard work I've put into my character and life.

Lastly, thinning plants may seem like a sad thing--pulling up a perfectly good plant--why would someone do that? Well, if the plants are growing too closely together, none of them will grow well. Same with me, I may be doing lots of good things, but if it's too much, none of my activities will be done well. Reminds me of a quote I heard a long time ago: "Say no to the good, so that you can say yes to the best." This lesson is a bit harder to learn than saying no to the bad...that's actually easier for me; it's more cut and dry. Thinning the good is a practice in my life that requires leaning on the Lord for guidance and trusting my hunny's advice and wisdom.

As promised here's how I fixed the stinkies--what stinkies you ask? Well you know how after so many washings and dryings clothes and towels take on a smell of their own? This smell is much different than the Tide you opened and sniffed in the aisle of Wal*mart and it's certainly NOT a smell you want to sniff as you dry off from a shower. After much trial and error, I've started using white vinegar in my rinse cycle and WAALAA! stinkies gone. (insert smile here). Again, not sure about you, but after I found this little trick, then I needed to remember to actually put the vinegar in during the rinse cycle. My solution: fill the handy-dandy Downy ball with the miracle liquid and toss it in the washer after the clothes.

Now if only fixing the stinkies in my heart were as easy...

Go to We are That Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips and hints.