Friday, April 22, 2011

Busy mowing weeds or Looking nice for Easter

I sit here nursing two major blisters on my hand because I decided to mow the weeds today. Well, technically I decided to mow the grass; I wanted everything to look nice for Easter! While we are way past the Easter egg hunting stage, I was a bit worried we might lose one of the children in the tall grass if something wasn't done.

I could have asked my son, but he's a bit under the weather. Besides - I wanted to do something industrious on my day off and I DIDN'T want to do it indoors. The grass seemed a logical choice.

I got the mower going just fine and started mowing the 75 acres...okay, so it's only a regular sized yard but it certainly FELT like more! It didn't take too long for me to realize I was mowing a little grass and a LOT of weeds! Ever since Hurricane Katrina our yard just hasn't been the same. We dealt with the major storm just fine, but I find that in little ways we are still dealing with the junk it brought with it - namely weeds. I've never even seen some of these before!

We used to have a beautiful yard. Now if it weren't for green weeds, we'd have no green at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me. (That was for all my older readers who actually REMEMBER Hee Haw!)

Last month I did some weeding in my flower bed. That day I discovered a wicked weed that impersonated a rose when it first sprouted up, but it quickly became evident that it was NOT a sweet smelling flower - just a climbing vine with thorns that were HUGE! Removing that vine just about ripped my arms to shreds. I now keep an eagle eye out for that one....but that's not the only one I have to worry about.


I noticed a few things as I dealt with these weeds. First of all, my son had just been mowing over them - cutting off the evidence they were there. We all know you can't deal with a weed like that! You've got to get it out by the root or it'll just keep coming back. Oh my - the spiritual parallels are starting to stir.

The next thing I noticed was that the areas we used the most didn't really have as many weeds. For example, by the street where we put out the trash, there were very few weeds....in the middle of the yard where we don't really pass that often, however, we had some major weed parties going on! I got to thinking of the areas in my life where I keep a watch - they stay pretty clear of sin...but what about those that I neglect? I wonder what's growing there that I don't want!

Then I noticed how easily it was to pull up some of these weeds. Of course - we had some rain yesterday and the ground was moist. I could just reach down and pull those weeds right out of the ground! If it had been dry, the dirt would have been so hard it wouldn't let go - at least not without pulling up everything around it. That reminded me of how easy it is to clear out the sin in my life after a good soak from the Holy Spirit. During dry periods, it seems like no matter how I try I can't clear up those pesky little problems....or even see them! But let me enter into some intense worship and suddenly I can see that which has been hovering underneath the surface so long - and easily let it go.

There was that patch of rye grass growing - the one that no one seems to know where it came from. It springs up quickly every Spring, but it's next to impossible to mow (it just lays down) and it just as quickly turns brown and looks like straw. I thought my "good grass" would overtake it, but I'm afraid it's working the opposite way. At any rate, it takes up far more of my yard that I'd like. In fact, I'd "like" it to not be there at all!

Finally, there was that little patch of weeds with flowers in it. I think it's a weed - some might call it ground cover, but I'm pretty sure it's a weed. I do know it wasn't grass, still I just couldn't bring myself to mow it down. It reminded me of my childhood and the fields beside our house. I could have mowed it down, but I decided not to. I'll let you draw your own spiritual parallels for that one!

Yep, I've mowed some grass, pulled some weeds (not all - that would be too much for one day off!) and  managed to get a couple of blisters in the process. Things look "nice" for Easter, but if I'm honest, I've got a LOT more work to do. I don't want to just look "nice" for Easter and still live a life filled with weeds. If today's experience is any indication, this could be an interesting summer indeed.

Proverbs 24:30-32 (New International Version, ©2011)

30 I went past the field of a sluggard,
past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
31 thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
32 I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:

2 comments:

Kathy Castor said...

Hi Donna! I enjoyed this post - fun and full of simple wisdom and relevant insight. Some GREAT analogies for me to ponder today.

For the title, I'd go with "Busy mowing weeds". :)

Anonymous said...

"Busy mowing weeds"
:) LT