Thorns And Thistles

When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord told them that instead of fruits and flowers the ground would produce thorns and thistles. In this fallen world, weeds grow a lot more easily than crops. This is true literally for the world of agriculture, but it's also true in the garden of our souls. We have been asked to plant our faith like a seed, to cultivate virtues and good works. But it seems that in our souls, thorns and thistles grow much more easily. For every seed of faith we plant, five doubts take root and fight for soil and light in our soul. For every good impulse that we feel, there is an equally strong feeling to focus on ourselves and our own problems. To get angry, frustrated, confused, scared, lazy, vindictive, all of these are thorns and thistles, all parts of the natural man that pop up without hardly any effort on our part. But if we put in the effort, not just once but day after day and planting season after planting season, we can turn our soul into a garden full of virtue and light and love. A garden that will still have weeds and thorns pop up in it. Our natural tendencies towards doubt and selfishness doubt ever go away completely, but if we develop a habit of tirelessly rooting them out wherever they pop up, they need not bother us over much. We're not defective if we still occasionally get angry or doubt ourselves. If we just recognize those feelings as weeds that need to be plucked out then we can move on with our day and enjoy our beautiful garden.