Lessons in a Weed

You will seek Me and find Me

when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

The gentleman who owned my home for many years before me was an avid gardener.  The lawn and landscaping around the home was his pride and joy.  In the later years of his life, the owner had a lawn service that came in to mow and maintain the lush grass.  I met the serviceman last summer, as he prepared the landscape to be turned over to the new owner.  He gave me his card, assuring me that he would be delighted to continue providing great service and a guaranteed spectacular lawn.

Suffice it to say that I did not have the money to pay a lawn service; last fall the grass did not receive its usual batch of chemicals.  I reassured myself that it would be OK – that I was perfectly capable of maintaining the lawn myself.  I cannot begin to describe my surprise and dismay when Old Man Winter departed, Spring made her glorious entrance, and my front lawn was a complete mass of weeds.  Between the nettle and the dandelions and their numerous cousins, there was hardly a patch of grass to be seen.  I was stunned!  Where in the world did they come from? 

As human beings, we are not so very different from the grass – crazy as that sounds.  There are a million weeds out there, waiting to implant themselves into the lawn of your soul.  They come in all varieties – a little lie, an unkindness act, a filthy word, inappropriate thoughts, a seemingly harmless addiction, slander, a coveting glance, a little flirtation.  One little thing can’t be all that bad, right? 

It’s never just one, though, is it?  Weeds are one of the most persistent things on earth.  The minute one buries itself in the landscape, it works quickly to propagate itself into many, many more. The weeds of sin are exactly the same.  Let one submerge itself in your mind, and eventually it will consume your heart from the inside out.