Having a beautiful garden takes time and effort. We must cultivate the soil, plant the seeds we want to grow, and tend the garden by watering it and removing weeds that pop up. If a garden is not tended to, weeds will overtake the area.
Every spring, I dream of having a beautiful garden. I have these elaborate plans in my head. I think that this will be the year that I make time to have a gorgeous garden. However, I generally end up with a garden of weeds by the end of the summer. This year was no exception. I did not take the time to work in the garden and let the weeds grow higher than ever.
My Garden of Weeds
I kept meaning to pull the weeds but never got to it. Finally, the weeds annoyed me enough, and I began pulling weeds. It had rained the day before, so the ground was perfect for pulling weeds. The sun was just right, warm but not overbearingly hot. It took me two full days to remove the weeds around the whole front of my home.
I had let the problem grow to a substantial out-of-control garden of weeds. I had a lot of time to think while I pulled the weeds. Weeds are like negative thoughts. Weeds grow no matter what.
Our negative thoughts are the same way. They are affecting us in such a detrimental way. Many times we do not know what we are even thinking. We become what we think.
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)
Becoming Aware of Negative Thoughts
“You’re in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it in the right way.”
A great tool to learn to know what you are thinking is to carry a piece of paper around for one day and write down any negative thoughts you have.
When I did this, I discovered I had a lot more negative thoughts than I ever realized. Many of my negative thoughts were centered around the same things—such an eye-opener to me.
Pulling Negative Thoughts Out of our Minds
The negative thoughts we have are lies we tell ourselves. I was tired of these lies! I took a few negative thoughts from my long list and wrote the opposite, so they were now positive statements. I posted the positive statements on the wall of my bedroom. I read them morning and night.
When I started reading the positive words out loud, I felt as if they were lies. Even though I felt awkward reading these words, I realized it is better to repeat the person I wish to become rather than believe my mind’s negative thoughts.
I continued to read the positive statements, hoping that I could be this person. After a while, I began to believe I could be this person. After repeating these positive statements every day for a few weeks, I started changing into the person I wanted to become.
We have the power to change our thoughts! We can become the person we want to be. It all starts with our thoughts. Weed out the negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts! Daily attention to the positive is like tending your garden.
