Weeding

Donnie and I went on vacation last week and growing beside our patio was a "milkweed." It was about three feet tall. We laughed and fussed about the lack of grooming that was being invested in the landscape on the property. It was all I could do not to sneak out in the dead of night and pull that sucker.

When we got home, I noticed that my landscaping was looking a little less than groomed as well, so I spent most of the morning in the yard deadheading the rosebushes and pulling weeds. My last plot was the one by the back door. It's my favorite of all the flowerbeds, probably because it was the first one I planted when I became Donnie's wife and moved into his house. It's a small scale version of my mom's giant garden with no real rhyme nor reason – just a riot of color and scent that makes me smile every time I walk outside.

I don't really mind weeding. When I'm on the ground, I can smell the earth and the scents of the flowers so much better than any other time. But today, the crab grass was thick and wrapped around some of the newer plants that came up from seed. It was hard work! As I pawed through the wet grass looking for the base of the plant so I could eliminate it from the roots, I tried hard not to dislodge the tender new plants that had sprung up while we were gone. Try as I might, every once in a while a baby Cosmo came out with the weeds as I gasped in dismay.

It made me think of the story Jesus told about the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13). In his parable, Jesus tells about a farmer whose enemy sneaks into the field and sows weeds that resemble wheat in the field. His servants ask if he wants them to yank them up, but the farmer tells them to leave them be so they don't harm the young wheat in the process. The farmer then says they'll separate them at the harvest. Smart farmer.

As Christians, I think we spend a little too much time worrying about the weeds in everybody else's gardens. I know that we are instructed to correct and teach, but just like weeding my flower beds, it's supposed to be a gentle enterprise that doesn't destroy the young (in age or faith) in the process and should in no way take precedence over tending to our own sins.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in agonizing over and protesting the "big" sins that we see in the world around us that we ignore the "little" sins that are taking root in our own lives. When I rebel against God's instruction by neglecting to read my Bible or by criticizing someone else, I am just as guilty as the person who ignores God's instruction by murdering or stealing or any other sin that man deems "big."

That milkweed was never really my problem. It was the responsibility of the gardeners employed by the resort where we stayed. My problem was the crabgrass in my own flower bed and with a little time and sweat, it's looking better. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination as I will never be perfect in this life, but I'm looking forward to a home where  the flowerbeds and I will both be weed-free.