I’ve always loved the saying “bloom where your planted.” It’s much more effective (and much faster) to reach your goals from your existing situation than to change your starting point.
Usually we think the answer to our frustration is to change our circumstances: a job, boss, or significant other, our strategy, our town, home, school or church. Most times, we don’t need to change our circumstances for things to get better, we just need to pull some weeds and our circumstances will suddenly improve.
Just like a garden can’t bear the best fruit if weeds are allowed to thrive there, we can’t bear fruit in our lives if we allow weeds to grow and stay. The weeds in our lives suffocate our success and keep every part of our lives on hold.
What’s in the way of your success? What’s holding you back from achieving your dreams and realizing your potential? What’s keeping you from feeling fulfilled in your closest relationships? Why aren’t you experiencing peace, freedom and joy? What’s dragging you down?
It could be a habit, an unresolved hurt, a toxic or codependent relationship, an addiction, obsessive thoughts, jealousy, anger, resentment, extra weight, secrets, lies, reckless choices, time wasters, excessive spending, pride, denial…you get the idea. It’s different for everyone, and most of us have more than one type of weed in our garden. Yours should come to mind as you read this. If not, take some time to reflect so you can identify it.
Pulling any of the weeds will help, but the best way to clear the path to your success is to start with the biggest one – it’s the one that is stifling your growth and clouding your vision the most – in the garden of your life, your career, your relationships, or your business.
There are weeds in your garden that must be pulled. Which one will you pull first so you can start living?
I’ve had to pull many weeds in my life, and my garden needs tending on the regular. I’ve gone through seasons so abundant that I’ve been able to share and enjoy the fruit. I’ve also gone through seasons where my buds started out strong with so much promise, only to suffocate and die on the vine. When I get lazy and stop weeding, the fruit of my life stops producing, doesn’t ripen or altogether rots. I lose focus, clarity, direction, motivation. Family battles bubble up, negative thoughts take over, bad choices are made, business results suffer.
The first and biggest weed I ever realized I had to pull was many years ago. My life was exhausting and unfulfilling as I fought through a daily barrage of negativity while taking on the impossible responsibility of others’ happiness at the cost of my own, choosing the wrong ways to cope the whole way through. My clouded vision impaired my aim and kept me blind to my own potential and possibilities, and the bad fruit was evident through my career performance, my lack of healthy relationships, my declining well-being and things in my life getting worse rather than better. When I finally unshackled that thousand-pound chain from my feet, the skies immediately cleared and good fruit was produced quickly in the way of career success, healthy new friendships, my son’s joy and growth, a healthy marriage, my own joy and peace, and an overall fun and fulfilling life.
My garden needs constant tending. My habits, negative thoughts and other struggles can pop up almost overnight when I’m not paying attention. But when I pluck them out, blessings always follow. I receive clarity, success, fantastic opportunities, results, authentic friendships, a joyful life, a happier home, an intimate marriage.
What weeds do you have growing in your garden? What is it costing you not to pull them?
