WEEDS AND WILL

If you had come to my house over the past two weeks for a visit, you would find me amongst a weed mine, sprayer in hand filled with poison, ready for the kill. Four days of fighting and killing weeds gives a person a lot of time for contemplation. Amazingly enough there is a tremendous correlation between weeds and our human will.

A great variety of weeds requires knowledge of each weed individually and the product best used to kill it. Many kinds of product line the store shelves, all of which vary just a little differently in amounts effective for the kill and the types of weeds responsive to the labors one takes to get rid of them. Some weeds do not require methods of poison, while others show their stubborness, not willing to give up the fight until several go arounds. Some weeds were very compliant in my hands, letting go, root and all, without any effort on my part, except to ever pull so gently. Others required a little more tugging and pulling, but would finally release never to enjoy the earthly nurture again. Others needed the shovel, digging down to the bottom to force these stubborn plants to die. And then there were the goliaths and the pee wees. Allowing the goliaths to become giants meant that no matter how much effort and work I gave, these called for something more potent than my brutal womanly strength. The small pee wee ground cover would mean tedious labor and many more days of work, when in reality, a squirt of potency could immediately dispose of them.

Many a sermon I have sat through hearing those audible comparisons between the analogies of sin and weeds, but as I worked in our weed mines, I realized that perhaps the more correct analogy entails our will and weeds. Satan thrown out of heaven was a result of willfully choosing to disobey God. Adam and Eve's disbarment from the garden was a result of a willful choice to disobey God. Sin is actually a result of our WILLFUL choices. The battle resides in our will to give up and allow ourselves to be released from the consequences of that which we desperately cling.

As people created in the image of God, unike the weed, the ability to learn and reason, placed in our minds and hearts, provides us with the capability to understand right from wrong and the effects of our choices. Perhaps full knowledge of those effects evade us to some extent, hindsight is always better they say, but we grasp the concept that if we make poor choices others experience the negativity. If we make good choices, sometimes requiring us to let go of that which provides no benefit whatsoever, everyone enjoys the beauty that becomes the end result.

Releasing the roots of our will requires an outside source. As a Christian, this outside source, of course, is God. The weeds of my mines had no intention of killing themselves, but rather they continued to spread their roots, permeating the ground, overtaking and stamping out the cool, soft grass that provides many benefits. Getting rid of these stubborn forms of life took my intervention, hard work, and many hours of labor. Similarly, the weeds of our will demand the intervention of God, his patience, his long-suffering, his love, and a life-time of labor. Perhaps the difference between an acutal weed and our will lies in our ability to respond to God's intervention. A battle exists between our will and obedience to God many times.

Certain kinds of weeds tend to be pretty, but only within a short season of time. Fireweed is a wonderful example. When in full bloom, there is nothing more beautiful than to overlook a field of brilliant pink and purple blossoms and thin stalks swaying in the breeze. Their blossoms look so dainty during their peak season, but quickly they fade away and return their true self...a weed. Their beauty withers and dies. There exists within each of us something that resembles fireweed. That which we cling to, which is only in reality a weed, seems beautiful and attractive, blinding us from its true self. The beauty withers away for awhile, but becomes beautiful again within a specific season. For this reason, perhaps, these weeds of life tend to be the more difficult ones to let go because their beauty continues to return, even if short lived. Humanly, we hang on to what seems to be worth the wait...the short lived beauty of what is only a weed. The battle becomes stronger over such things as fireweed. Their roots deeper and more pervasive, sometimes require a poison. I suppose our response to God's intervention of all kinds of weeds that permeate our hearts determines how much pain we must endure. God does the work of weeding, killing that which needs to die, but we carry the responsibility of response to His work in our lives. Weeds and Will...it is a battle, but a battle in which God does the hard work and we choose to relinquish the roots of our will and release them to His love and care.

I must insert, that as I write this analogy, I am talking to the preacher here, as they say. The battle rages strong. How about you? Are your battles easy, or do they rage like a roaring river? May we all acquire the desire to submit to God's grace, mercy, and love.