Hot Days in the Weeds: A Grandfather’s Reflection

Over the last few days, I’ve been working in my backyard cleaning up some weeds. We’re not talking just a few weeds! This task has been sorely neglected in the recent weeks because of graduations, grandkids’ baseball games and, you know, you fill in the blank. 

The Fire Pit

Last year we put in a fire pit area and filled it with pea gravel and stone.  It looked great!  Now, some of you may be backyard aficionados, but I am not.  When installing the pit, one of the first things I did was to lay a weed block covering to prevent weeds from springing up through the stones.  I calculated the amount of weed block I would need and bought that amount. 

Admittedly, I’m not one to spend a lot of money on extra product. (I might, in fact, be called cheap by some people close to me.)  Knowing the amount that was needed, that is what I bought.  What I didn’t consider was the need to overlay between pieces (oops #1.)  So, when I laid the weed block out, I had to position some pieces right next to each other rather than overlapping them.  I decided that would work (oops #2) and did not go and purchase more.

Fast forward to yesterday.  There were lots of weeds in the fire pit area.  Many were easily pulled up because they were on top of the weed block. However, some were around the edges and were more difficult to pull out.  As I spent the afternoon in the hot sun pulling up the weeds, I thought about a lot of things (besides being too cheap to buy more weed block last year)!

Reflecting as I Worked

At one point, my mind went to the summer series our church is doing. It’s titled Summer in the Psalms. This is the second summer our Pastor, elders, and deacons are preaching/teaching a Psalm a week. My work in the weeds brought to mind last year’s look at Psalm 1.

This Psalm talks about how the blessed man walks not in the counsel of the wicked, but instead delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it. It says this man is like a tree planted by the stream.

As I mediated on this passage, I thought of how the roots of most of these weeds were like the wicked. Not going very deep, they were easily pulled up. Others had roots going a little deeper but still could be pulled up.  In stark contrast, stood the grass outside the fire pit. Well-watered by the rain, the grass roots were deep.

Making it Personal

My thoughts then turned to how all of this applied to my life. (Remember, I had plenty of time for thinking as I worked my way around the fire pit!)

There have been many times during my life as a Christian that I’ve not studied or put the time in to develop my life in the way Christ wants me to. During those times, my roots were not deep.  They didn’t produce the fruit that should have been.

On the other hand, I recalled that there have been times when I was being consistent in my Bible study time and trying to learn more about how I should be growing as a Christian.  Not so I could be boastful, but so I could be more like Christ. And so those around me, especially my wife, three kids (and their spouses), and my twelve grandchildren could see growth and want to follow Him more also!

A Question for Each of Us

That leads me to wonder. Which are we like?

Are we like the weeds that were easily pulled up because they had no depth or even like the weeds that had a little bit more depth but were still fairly easily pulled?

OR

Are we like the grass that is well-watered, deeply rooted, and making for that beautiful yard around the fire pit?