Getting to the root of the problem

Well, I was pruning again. If you read my last blog you will remember I talked about the benefits of pruning - mostly that it allowed a plant to grow back renewed and invigorated!

During my digging process the next day I had a blonde moment. As I was digging I realized that the briars and poison ivy I was dealing with have roots also. So, if I prune them they will come back strong too. What to do? Obviously I needed to get the the root of the problem. As I was doing this I realized that I may lose some good stuff in the process because the roots of the good and evil were interwined.

Some of the plant that I was working with was so large and interwined with the root so tightly I could not go directly to the root and cut. I had to start at the top of the plant and work down.

That's the way it is with us. Sometimes we know where the root is and other times we are not sure. We have to start at the top and go down. It means letting go of a few good things to get there. Once you are there and cast out the evil the good will have room to grow again and multiply.

I was reminded of Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

While I was working so hard to get to the root of the problem God sent me a cool breeze along and along to encourage me and a tall glass of ice water - ain't He good!