I’m thinking back of what Afrikaans South Africans call “tweede nuwejaar”, 2 January. It was a wonderful, slow day for us - bike riding, swimming, lunch with friends, watching a movie.

And weeding the garden.

For some or other reason pulling out weeds has always had a therapeutic effect on me. I think some people get that feeling when they spring clean their house or tidy up the garage but weeding does that for me.

As I was pulling out these little rogue plants, I started thinking of all the things in my life that still need uprooting. January does that to us - we think figuratively and deeply about things.

Some of the weeds I can identify in my life, were obviously not pulled up roots-and-all before, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen their unwelcome selves around, but if I evaluate them objectively, some of these “weeds” aren't necessarily true weeds at all.
 

Let me keep to the garden metaphor.

Having a nice green lawn is great. But if there are patches of grass growing in my flower bed, it’s not so great. Those patches need to go. The problem in not necessarily with the grass itself, it’s the fact that the grass is out of place. It shouldn’t be there.

And so it is with some characteristics or attributes or habits (etcetera): things that shouldn’t be there anymore, things that we’ve outgrown, things that don’t serve us any more, things that may in fact look good from the outside but that we know are actually hampering us.

I think the first month of a year is the ideal time to sit back and really look for the weeds and the “weeds” in our lives, the obvious ones and the cunning, hidden ones, that just don’t serve a purpose any more. And rid ourselves of all of them.

If you are a Christian, there are fabulous promises and encouragement in the Word. Consider reading 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4: 31-32 and Ephesians 5:1-7