I Saw Myself in Those Roots
I set out to pull the weeds that had grown thick in the parking lot at Zion. It was my first time, so I was not very skilled, but I worked hard digging them up with a hand hoe. About 30 minutes after I started, I began to wonder if I really needed a tool to pull weeds. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than I put down the hand hoe and began pulling the weeds by hand.
The person next to me told me that I should not simply pull the weeds by hand. I needed to dig into the soil with the hand hoe and pull them out by the roots. Otherwise, the weeds would grow back from the roots left in the ground. Only then did I fully understand. I picked up the hand hoe again, dug deep into the soil as I had been taught, and pulled the weeds out by the roots.
However, not all the weeds came out completely. Some came out easily with just a little digging, while others were rooted so deeply that no matter how hard I struck the ground with the hand hoe, they showed no sign of coming out. Any roots left behind would cause the weeds to grow again, meaning that someone would have to go through the trouble of pulling them out all over again. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became with those stubborn roots, and I muttered to myself.
“Why can’t you come out cleanly like the others? Why do you have to stay behind and make someone come back and go through all the trouble of pulling you out again?”
At that moment, I felt a pang of conscience. Those roots seemed just like me. Countless brothers and sisters around the world were obeying God’s word, “Reject every kind of evil,” and developing beautiful character. Yet there were still many things I stubbornly refused to let go of.
Mother prays for me every day and every moment, sparing no effort or sacrifice so that the field of my heart may be cleansed. She also patiently waits for me to uproot the stubbornness and pride within me, which are like deeply rooted weeds that are difficult to pull out. I struck the ground hard with the hand hoe, trying to remove the roots quickly, but Mother gently tends to me with a loving touch, careful not to hurt my heart.
From now on, I will uproot every kind of evil. I want to become pure and godly as soon as possible and ease Mother’s burden.
