Weeds

Nut grass:  I have a lot in my garden!

It is that time of summer when it seems nothing wants to grow except the weeds. The official definition of a weed is a plant in the wrong place. The grass that won’t grow in the lawn will flourish in the flower bed – where it becomes weeds. I’ve been weeding raised beds in preparation for some fall planting. The squash and cucumbers have died, but the weeds are in full force! A spot that looked fine yesterday has already sprouted back. The weeds have developed survival tactics. They spread by long rhizomes underground; they set seeds early and often; they are drought resistant. Weeding can seem a never-ending chore. But it is a necessary process because, left untended, those weeds will crowd out the beneficial plants. They will suck up the nutrients and moisture and blot out the sunlight. 

As I have been weeding, I have reflected on some churches that I have known where there were “weeds” – people who were in the wrong place. Like the grass in a garden, they tried to take over. They had an aptitude for crowding out others, smothering fledgling ministries. They absorbed lots of the pastor’s energy, taking up more than their share of time and attention. Sometimes I have wished that I could pull them up by their roots, just the way I do the weeds in my garden! But I am reminded that even in that first Garden, things were not perfect. And things are certainly not perfect in the church – any church. And Jesus says that God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45). And even though some seem to soak up more sun and rain than they deserve, I suppose in God’s garden there are no weeds, nothing that is in wrong place. 

But I still want to uproot some folks and send them to the church down the road!