This year we really don't have the time to do a big garden. I bought a few tomato & pepper plants, but other than that I'm just maintaining the strawberries, hoping the rabbits don't eat them before we get our fence up.
Our strawberry patch was looking rather neglected and when I started out this morning with my nearly 2 year old and my spade, my intent was really just to dig up the huge dandelions that were stifling their growth. But out there with what were the big huge obvious weeds, was also lots and lots of crab grass.
The interesting thing about crab grass is that it really doesn't look that bad. Afterall, it's just grass. Kind of pretty if you think about it. But crab grass is sneaky, you might have 1 shoot of grass sticking up, and you go to pull it and it is stuck tight in the ground. Crab grass sends shooters underneath the surface of the soil, pulling it is an often futile effort, rarely can you actually pull out the roots. It was for this very reason that I hadn't bothered with it for awhile. It's a lot of work to pull up crab grass!
But when I got to the strawberry patch I could see that what I thought was harmless grass growing, was really a monster and in the patches where it was heaviest there were hardly any strawberry plants growing. So I got pulling, and while I pulled I thought (which is why I love gardening so much!).
Remember the parable of the weeds and the seeds? There are a couple of them, here is the one I'm referring to:
Matthew 13:1-9
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
"Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants." My crab grass isn't exactly thorns, or even as menacing as dandelions, to the human eye. But as I was sitting there, pulling and pulling, and my fingers were getting a little raw, I thought about how often it isn't the GIANT sins that keep us from growing as Christians. It isn't the blatantly obvious weeds in our lives that impair our ability to produce fruit. A lot of times it is the little things that take a little root and send a shooter under the surface. No one can see the intricate web of destruction tearing at our hearts beneath our facade. Our sin might not be that bad, it might even look a little pretty - but underneath, when we let it grow out of control it will take over our lives, choke out the good in us and prevent us from growing fruit. Prevent us from living out the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control - Galatians 5:22-25.
What are the things in your life that our choking out your fruit? And how can you start pulling these weeds today? If you never start, they'll only continue to take over your strawberry patch.
