Although we didn't know it when we bought our house, part of our yard was underneath the street. When our town decided to change our intersection, we got that part of our yard back. We were thrilled to find out that our yard was bigger than we thought, but the new part of the yard was, to say the least, not fertile ground. Because there were other projects being done in our community at the same time, we were able to get some free dirt to cover what had been a roadbed and to try to make it into a place where plants could grow. Along with the free dirt, we got a lot of free weeds! We built a wall on our property line, and inside the wall we've labored endlessly to keep the weeds down and gingers are now thriving there. Outside the wall, we dug out some of the weeds and over time a hardy grass that doesn't need care besides mowing has filled in. A few months ago we planted some decorative plants around the stop sign on our corner to discourage the neighbors from burning the stop sign on New Year's and the 4th of July by hanging firecracker strings on it. The plants haven't done all that well even though we've watered them fairly regularly, but what has thrived is those weeds. We hadn't seen much of them while they were having to rely on rainwater, but given regular watering, they've sprouted up again strong and hardy.
Life seems like that sometimes. You work pretty hard to get rid of a little character trait that you don't like, and you think you've done a decent job of it. But then circumstances change and you find that little trait flourishing again. That's why King Benjamin counseled that we must put off the natural man. We can't just cut off the weed or even pull out most of it. We have to get rid of all its roots and seeds as well. The constant care that it takes to keep my life free from weeds can be tiring and discouraging, but I don't have to do it alone. If I will let the Savior be the gardener of my soul, he'll help me weed out the bad, and he'll strengthen the good in me. He'll make me what he needs me to be if I will yield to his guiding hand.
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yeilds to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Mosiah 3:19
