My daddy always had a garden. With five children and a wife to feed on an
hourly wage salary, it was a necessity.
As a child, I only knew of fresh tomatoes, greens, corn, beans, squash,
eggplant, cucumbers, potatoes, and the ever-popular turnips.
As soon as
we were old enough to go outside, we were all expected to “help in the
garden.” Daddy didn’t know about child
labor laws; he was quite familiar with his own translation of scriptures like
“work with your own hands,” and “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” Daddy always applied Scripture practically.
For most of
my younger years, I was on the weeding detail.
Grass growing between the perfectly formed rows of Daddy’s garden was
not tolerated. Daddy was an
environmentally green gardener before his time.
Why use chemical weed treatment when his children were available!
The most
common weed in our south Louisiana garden was crabgrass. Its name is descriptive of its nature.
Like a crab, this grass’s roots are in the center of the
weed with long tendrils extending outward.
In pulling up this weed, it is essential to pull the core or center
section intact with the tendrils.
Otherwise, the weed grows back.
It is a tenacious and persistent weed.
Consistent, methodical, often sweat producing effort is required to
master the weeding chore. It is not for
the faint of heart or weak willed.
As a young
child, I remember begging to go to the garden.
I felt left out of what my older brothers were doing because they got to
be with Daddy in the garden. Their
groans and complaints of “wait till you get older; you won’t be so excited
then” did not deter me. I wanted to be
in the garden, mainly because I wanted to be with Daddy and with them.
Eventually,
of course, I did grow old enough to see the garden from a different view. Yes, I became a groaner along with the older
boys and lost sight of the reason for my joy of being in the garden. When the
work was hot and hard, I groaned and complained. Sadly, I even passed on the
groans to the younger boys as they reached the age of garden
accountability. Maybe if Daddy had
explained the connection between pulling weeds and eating, our groans might not
have been so loud. Truthfully, I doubt
it. Groaning is part of our nature,
regardless of the level of our understanding.
It’s just easier than thinking, obeying, or being thankful.
As an adult
I developed a different view of weeds in the garden. When our son was little, the garden was
his favorite place. He loved to “hoe in
the garden,” but mostly, he just loved being with his PawPaw. This is so like God-- to open my spiritual
eyes through watching our child.
Our lives
are a garden full of seeds that have been planted there. Like every garden, the seeds must be
protected and nourished in order to produce their intended plant. When weeds begin to invade the soil intended
for the plant to thrive, the weed must be removed. Otherwise, the life giving soil is forced to
feed both the seed and the weed. Weeds,
of course, don’t require much to survive.
It is their nature to live off of other sources. They drain and strain the plants around them
until the source dries up. The result is
a patch of useless grass and weeds that give nothing back like food or beauty.
God is our
gardener. He created us from dirt with a
spirit and a soul. Our dirt is in need
of water and fertilizer and weed killing.
Every day we are given the choice of pulling weeds or feeding them. We feed the weeds by ignoring our Father’s
voice. The roots of the weeds grow
stronger and spread out further to infect other struggling plants. If left untended, our spirit and soul can become
hard and barren and eventually dry up.
The other
choice is to pull the weeds. We listen for our Father's instructions and read them in His word. It is hard
work and seems endless, but the payoff is so great! We learn how to do it right so the weeds have
to work harder to grow back. We see the
fruit (or vegetable) of our labor. Most
of all, we get to be with our Daddy.
