Weeds

Continuing with the theme of gardening, I will focus on weeds. This is easy right now because I just spent 45 minutes pulling some tenacious ones. When I first looked at the huge mass of weeds that seemed to have taken over the front flower bed, I was tempted to surrender in defeat. There were 3 concerns that brought this possibility to mind: 1) the sheer number and size of the weeds; 2) the heat; 3) possible critters lurking in there. Each of these is a great reason to retreat to the comfort of air conditioning.

For some reason, though, I pulled a weed at the edge. This felt good so I pulled another and another. With the removal of each weed I noticed two things. First, I could see better to pull the next one while checking for any critters in the immediate vicinity. Secondly, my progress was taking me into the shade.

There are a number of lessons in our struggle against weeds. Weeds represented unwanted things in life that hide the good and seek to choke the very life from that good. Secondly, they keep coming back. The harder we hit them, the longer it takes, but they will be back. And the sooner we take care of them when they do return, the easier it is to keep them from gaining a stronghold. Also, no matter how much we'd like them to turn into a beautiful flower or vegetable, they will always be a weed.

As I rehydrate and reflect on my success against this one patch of weeds, here is what I've learned. Weeds are not as noticeable where there are no flowers and fruit but they are still there. Calling a weed a tomato does not make it so. The only real way to stop their intrusion is to pull them up by the root.