Those pesky weeds

I’m just in from trying to clear a bit of ground to put in the bedding plants. I say trying, because the earth there is a mass of tree roots, interwoven with ground elder shoots which twist and turn all over the place. I did what I could and put in the plants. Now we’ll see which is the hardiest: the weeds or the pansies.

I think I know the answer already.

Some bad habits and thought patterns have a way of sinking tap roots deep into my psyche. Despite my most focused efforts, they are entwined amongst other thoughts and habits so tightly that they just won’t budge.

I don’t have any problem believing that I need God. Only he has the precision tools to uproot destructive thoughts completely and replace them with healing, wholesome ones. Thoughts and habits that will bloom and carry fragrances that will bless others. Thanks be to God.

Strangled by Weeds

Late August sunshine and heat draw me out into the garden, where I confront the overgrowth and undergrowth and weed infestations! Yesterday I made a start on the raspberry disaster. 

Usually we have an abundance of sweet berries through July/August, but this year many of the canes were bare. Some were new-plants, but others just didn’t seem to bear the fruit they usually do.

Having slipped a disk in my back a couple of years ago, I have been very careful with my gardening since then, and have rather slacked off on the weeding side. Yesterday I confronted the results. 

Neglect gave rise to a tangle of buttercups and clover which has carpeted the ground beneath the rasp canes and no doubt leached out the nutrients. Perhaps I can blame them for the lack of raspberry jam in the cupboards: maybe I could try making buttercup or cloverleaf spread.

Neglect of negative seedlings in our own lives can lead to carpets of weeds which rob us of the fruits of the Spirit God longs to give us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are attributes which are tender and need nurturing in order to flourish in our lives. But we don’t seek patience, for instance; we seek God and ask him to grow this fruit in us. He is the one who grows all the good fruit in our lives. 

The real culprit in lack of fruitfulness in our lives is neglect of God. Just spending time in his presence nurtures these good traits. I know myself the impact of busyness: if I allow it to marginalise my God-time, the colourful, juicy fruits of the Spirit are missing from my day.

So the sun is out again: back to the raspberry patch!

Weeds in the Garden

I’ve heard it said that a weed is a plant or flower growing wherever it isn’t wanted. But we’ve had lots of beautiful plants over the years growing where they weren’t wanted. They weren’t weeds, so we moved them. 

Some survived. Some didn’t. The peony bloomed beautifully this year in its new location. The gooseberries keep producing fruit despite all lack of care and attention, having been moved from a fertile garden to what is essentially the grass verge.

There are a lot of ugly situations in this world, and sometimes in the midst of devastation a flower springs up. Look at the poppies on the WWI battlefields.

There are indeed true weeds, pernicious things like ground elder and nettles which can get hold and be a challenge to eradicate. They can get a stranglehold on genuine flowers and smother the tender plants you struggle to cultivate. They can leach nutrients from the soil and leave plants limp and withering.

Important to examine the inner garden of the heart, to check if any pernicious weeds have been allowed to take hold, to see if any fragrant flowers are in danger of withering for want of nurture. Good to do that with a Bible and time with the Lord. Good to do it with a prayer partner or a soul mate. Good to do it regularly, especially in a toxic climate.

The road is long

The road is long. The journey tough. So critical to keep the foundation of faith firm and strong, impermeable to those insidious weeds of doubt and discouragement that can weasel their ways into the smallest of cracks. Once they are in, the damage they can do! Out of sight, their roots spread and dislodge rocks and anchor points on which we build our faith. The result is there for all to see. A weedy infestation of doubt and fear.

Today I invest again in strengthening that core foundation of truth which I find in the Bible and also in my relationship with God. More of him in my life. That’s my cry today. Amen.

Who knew?

When it was dry a couple days ago, I plunged into the jungle between the driveway and house. The dandelions shouted out that the whole border was full of weeds and so I donned my garden gloves and waded in.

I wasn’t really prepared for what I would find. While most of the bushes overhung the usual collection of unwanted plant life – ground elder, dandelions, buttercups, willow herb, other unknowns – one of the bushes just outside my prayer window was sheltering three fairly well-established gooseberry bushes, one sycamore tree and a wild rose bush. Who would have known?! 

I’ve got the gooseberry bushes heeled in, waiting for someplace to be planted. I don’t really like gooseberries very much but I can’t bear to just let them wither and die. They’ve struggled to get as big as they are.

We don’t always see what’s growing in the shelter of people we know. Even people we know well and love. We don’t appreciate the fruit they are nurturing in others, whose day has not yet come and who have not yet been transplanted into the sunshine. 

We need to be gentle with each other, and look for the fruitfulness they are nurturing in others.

This is the Day ...

This is the Day...

This is the day that the Lord has made. Why is it always easier to sing/say that on a day like today – warm sun beaming out of a mostly blue sky, soft summer breeze rustling the flowers and leaves on the trees? A grey, misty cold day presents more of a challenge in declaring breezily, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made.’

A day like today draws me outside. Some light weeding, not too much given the state of my back. Then a quick car wash, to clean away the many many signs that the swallows are nesting in the roof of the garage. I love the swallows with their midnight blue feathers, but ...

Dusty deigned to walk with me part way round our usual path, but it’s too warm when clad in such a fur coat, and the flies mushroomed round her face. She soon turned back. 

If my back were healed I would cut the grass, because the buttercups and daisies are rising above it and giving our ‘lawn’ the appearance of a meadow. They are pretty. It is a shame to cut them really, though I enjoy the sight of a trim, tidy lawn.

Jesus told a story about a farmer sowing his crop, and someone with evil intent slipped into the field in the night and sowed weeds amongst the good seeds. Jesus advised letting the crop grow to harvest time and then cutting it all and separating the weeds out then, rather than risking uprooting some of the good plants growing in the field in an attempt to root out the weeds.

In each of our lives, weeds grow amongst the good seed. Some of them are prickly and ugly and we may be able to weed them out without much trouble. Others, though, appear good. Some ‘weeds’ in our lives may even flower or produce fruit. I’m thinking of other people, friends or family, who may not follow Jesus and yet they are compassionate, helpful citizens who do many good things. Are they ‘weeds’ or are they a good crop, just late in recognising the source of all good? 

Don’t judge, unless you want to be judged yourself by the same standard which you apply in judging others. That’s something else Jesus said. There are a lot of lovely flowers in the field in which I live. I’ll let Jesus bring in the final harvest, and work on allowing his Holy Spirit to bring to maturity the fruits which he is growing in me.

Some weeds are just flowers planted in the wrong place.