Reflections (weeds!)

We have a little area in front of our house that is filled with river rock, a couple of bushes and some flower pots.  It took a little effort to establish this area and takes some effort to maintain it. 
This spring I began to notice weeds sprouting up.  That's crazy.  We put the stuff down and covered the ground.  We covered it with rock.  Why are there weeds coming up?
After a few weeks of ignoring it, the weeds began to define the area.  I could not help but notice the green where it was not supposed to be. 
So Saturday I spent an hour or so pulling up all the grass and weeds I could find.  Well, most of them.  It seemed the more I pulled up the more there were.  It was not an easy task.  Even when I finished, it was not perfect.  So I sprayed some stuff on these little sprouts I saw.  Covered them up good!
Today I looked at this area from the driveway.  It looked great.  I noticed no weeds.  Then I got closer.  I had just pulled those little things up and now here they come again.  I must not have gotten everything uprooted. 
You are probably far ahead of me.  The events of our nation over the past several days have spotlighted our racism.  Racism, like all sin, is intended to be done in the "darkness" where no one will notice.  But now we have video.  The light has shone.  The spotlight reveals the evil of racism.  We, as a nation, have and are, responding.  Some resist.  Some embrace.  We are all giving consideration.
Back to my weeds.  I have looked at my own soul and pray the spotlight of God's grace and holiness reveal my own weeds of racism.  After ignoring things for some time, now I feel overtaken.  So I started pulling.  I confess my personal sins and repent.  I pray God show me what I am blind to. 
And I pull some more.
And some more, and some more, and some more.
Then I look.  I did not get everything. 
I try to cover it.  To kill it.  Racism - sin - is pervasive.  It does not go easily.  I offer my best efforts.  More weeds.
But this is not futile.  The nation is seeing.  People are thinking, talking, acting.  Proposals are being made and debated.  Action is forthcoming.  The light is shining.
Above all, God is noticing.  Where I fall short in my attempts to hide sin, God is able to uproot sin.  He has shone that at the Cross of Jesus Christ.
We are being saved.  Actually our sins have been covered and atoned for.  Now we are working out the way to live free. 
I will keep pulling weeds.  I will do better at noticing.  I will maintain better.  And God will prevail.
This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
steve