Deep inside, I covet having a perfect lawn. No bald spots…no weeds. Just lush greenness. But I just don't work hard enough on the weeds. My wife does most of the weeding at our place.
Recently, I observed an outbreak of weeds in our hostas. Unable to resist a pun, I called it a “hosta” situation. In a rare moment, I took the bold step of a weed intervention.
Level one found me yanking two foot thistles out of the ground. Thanks to the rain, most all those weeds were easily extracted–roots and all.
Level two meant going on hands and knees in the hostas, snatching handfuls of Creeping Charlie. The tough vines had entwined themselves around a thousand helpless victims. Here again, I was grateful for the wet ground, as I was able to yank them out by the roots. I felt like a modern day Moses, freeing my people from slavery to the Weed Pharaoh.
By the time I was done, much of our driveway was totally covered in weeds. (Who says it's not easy being green?) Rinsing the dirt from my hands, I was unable to rinse a thought from my mind:
You and I bemoan how easily weeds grow up. Whether literal weeds, or the weeds of bad habits, they require little to take root. Yet as I pondered the rainy season that made yanking those weeds out by their roots so much easier, it made me wonder. Is it possible that God blesses us with seasons in our lives when it's actually easier to root out bad habits, what David called “willful sins” in Psalm 19:13? Is it possible that there are certain seasons He intends for us to do extra violence to our stubborn habits, our inward wickedness?
I am not a theologian and cannot quote chapter and verse here. Nor would I—as my friend Michael Easley cautions–“push this too far.”
I can only say that in a soul like mine—and perhaps like yours—it might well be time for a weed intervention.