Time To Weed!
We came back from vacation and I delayed walking out to my garden. It wasn’t because I lacked interest in seeing my garden. Much to the contrary, I couldn’t wait to get out to see it! We’ve had rain; we’ve had heat, and I know that combination guarantees a bounty of…well, of a few things. My tomato plants should be bursting with bright yellow blooms, the branches reaching for the sky and outgrowing cages. Herbs and leafy harvest is getting more and more bushy with rich green foliage. But, there is more to my garden than the success of prosperity. Huddled all around my corn, shaded by my sunflower leaves, lurking at the feet of my tomato plants is a harvest of weeds, crabgrass and many more green plants than I’ll ever be able to label reaching nearly two feet tall! I knew it would be a mess, and it did not disappoint; though disappointed I was.
I needed help! I needed some good advice and resources to tell me all about weed control, tips, cures, remedies and natural antidotes. Please google, tell me what I can do to get rid of this mess. The searching can be overwhelming as every avid gardener appears to be an expert depending on his fancy font and crisp photos of carefully captured beads of morning dew on summer squash. Now, I wish there were a really easy, happy ending to my present conundrum. Those of you realists in the room know (and were probably shaking your head a few sentences ago) that what needs to happen, for literally the next two weeks of my life is the arduous, boring, daily grind of pulling those weeds. Period. But, the gardening pages were a nice distraction—and I even found a few new plants I may want to try next year! Bonus!
Back to the point, though a new topic, yet completely related. Gardening, with all of the success, failure and experimenting, reminds me of the continual battle we have in our daily struggles with sin in our lives. The parallels are as fruitful as my summer harvest. Garden:Me; Soil:Heart; Weeds:Sin; Weeding:Confession; Fruit:Righteousness; Rain:Grace; Heat:Trials; Roots…you get the point! Is it any wonder the Great Teacher used so many agrarian-based parables as he taught his motley crew of sometimes dull-eared proteges? I preach sermons to my heart in the cornfield every day I’m in my garden. Some of my sermon titles include: “Weeding is easier after the rain-How God’s showers of Grace aid our confession”, and “Weeding is necessary for an abundant harvest-how lack of repentance can diminish my effectiveness as a wife/mother/friend”, and “Stop playing and WEED!” No, wait, that’s the sermon I preach to my kids.
I need to hear lots of sermons from my garden. I need to be reminded often that God is Good to send both heat and rain. Sometimes, my material prosperity actually grows a plentiful harvest of weeds that I need to confess one by one.
The Mani/Pedi can wait till Winter. Let’s dig in the dirt for the sake of God’s Kingdom!