Have you ever grown a vegetable garden? I remember when I was pretty young that someone at our church let my father use their land. Daddy decided to grow a "little" garden. I'm not so sure that little is the word I would use, though. That little garden was 3 acres big, and my parents and we three girls are the ones who would walk the rows, weeding and picking the bugs off the tender shoots. We drove out to that garden all the time to tend to it long before a single edible thing introduced itself! We pulled and picked, pulled and picked, pulled and picked, and we girls weren't all too happy to be doing it, either.
I remember being hot and dirty - which I didn't necessarily mind so much ...I didn't want to be hot, dirty and working. I would rather have been riding my bike, climbing trees or turning cartwheels than all that nonsense! But Daddy was insistent on that garden being kept clean and free from weed and pestilence.
When it came time to start picking the vegetation, we couldn't believe how much there was! We could fill our car trunk with food and come back the next day and do it all over again. There was such a bounty! This all started a new line of work...canning. My mother was busy around the clock putting away the food that would keep us healthy for years to come.
Since I've been married, I haven't planted a vegetable garden, but I've always kept flowers growing near our front door. Every now and then I take the kids outside and sit them around the little garden and give the instruction, "Weed!" And just like me when I was young, I hear grunts and groans about the boredom of repetitiously pulling weed after weed. I hear things like, "Why do we have to do this when they are just going to be back next week?"
Those weeds in the garden tend to grow elsewhere, too. We have weeds that turn up all through our lives. Just when you think you have pulled something out that shouldn't be there, a new bad habit shows itself... or an ugly attitude surfaces... or grumbling increases... or pointing fingers at others becomes too regular... Weeds are like that. They never go away. It doesn't matter how much chemical you pour on them. Eventually, they will come back. It doesn't matter if you put heavy plastic down and then plant your flowers....you've just hidden your weeds. In fact, the weeds in our lives are much stronger than the beautiful things that we wish would grow. That's why weeding is a daily event.
This is why I try to begin every day with the Lord. I am like the Psalmist who said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. And lead me in the way everlasting." (Ps. 139:23) I need for the Holy Spirit to examine my life and bring to my knowledge the things that are hidden, waiting to surface. These things need to be dealt with before they can become "mother weeds" that shoot off smaller invaders throughout our lives. Have you ever pulled at a piece of crab grass? When the ground is moist, you can see that those tiny shoots that are storming your flower garden really go deep and far into your yard. Things that are in opposition to God are like this in our lives, and we need the revelation of God to help us keep the weeds at bay. What seems like a harmless little thing may be a deeper, more powerful force.
No, I did not like pulling weeds and picking bugs. But I really did love the sweet, unmarred peas, corn, squash, tomatoes and on and on that we harvested. When we are diligent at the task of weeding and picking, the fruit that we bear will be beautiful, and others will see the difference of a wise gardener.
Favorite recipe from Daddy's garden: I always loved my mother's combination of onion, tomatoes, zucchinis and yellow squash. You don't need to add much water bc the veggies have much of their own. It was seasoned simply with salt, pepper and a good spoon of bacon grease and cooked slowly. Yum!
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