Can this be done without trying to sound like U2?

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Col 3:16 NASB)

Weeds revisited

For the sake of the couple of people who commented on "Weeds" (thank you!), I'm going to put in my two or three cents.

The two suggestions I received were to (a) leave it to the gardener and (b) Round-Up (tm). Interestingly enough, I considered mentioning both possibilities when I originally wrote the post, almost in the same words.

Now, scripture is abundantly clear that I am the gardener. I don't own this yard. Even when I thought I did, and treated it like I did, I didn't. I am a steward, not a landowner. Now, I know the Landowner, and have come to know His benificience in allowing me a great deal of freedom in tending the yard. But it's His land, and He is counting on me to care for the garden.

He is also abundantly available for every resource I need to care for the yard. He has made it clear that He will provide any tool, any fertilizer, any seed, all kinds of instruction, and even personal assistance for the care of this garden. He wants His garden to be fruitful.

There are rules for its use, of course. There are some seeds that I am never to plant, because the Landowner knows that they can easily overtake the garden. There are seasons in which I should not plant so the soil can rest and receive nourishment. And most of all, I should never forget that the garden belongs to the Landowner and not to me.

The land was cleared when it was purchased. But the seeds of weeds can blow in from other fields. It falls to me (with the Landowner's abundant assistance and resource) to continue to care for the land, constantly and joyfully presenting it to Him, rejoicing with Him in its fruit.

Round-Up (tm) was going to be a little stinger on the end of the "Weeds" post. But if you read the label, you realize that where you use it, nothing's going to grow for several months. It gets the weeds out of the in the sidewalk really well. But if you want fruit, you'd better use other means. Jesus' is not Round-Up.

Thanks for the comments. I hope to be posting more often soon.

Weeds

Our back yard is in the process of going native. This is not by my choice or design. There are simply plants coming up in our lawn that want to be there more than grass does.

I’ve noticed two types of weeds. One kind has a shallow root system, but has tendrils that weave their way through the lawn. Unless you untangle every last tentacle from the blades of grass, the weed will break off at its stem and come back with a vengeance within a week or so. One must apply a great deal of patience in unraveling such a tangled weed.

The other kind is easy to spot because it’s tall and leafy. It looks like you could just grab, tug, and be done with it. But the thick, meaty root drives straight down to the pit of hell. I’m almost certain that the tip is hot. But unless you loosen the dirt around it and pull firmly straight up, a weed taller and stronger will grow up from the root before you know it. Once more, a concerted effort must be applied.

I’ve tried working on these weeds once a week, taking a few hours on the weekend. But I notice that I miss a lot of them, and the ones I let go seem to spread beyond my ability to keep them under control. I end up frustrated.

So I’m going to take some time each morning for the next few weeks to see what happens if I concentrate on particular sections of the lawn, one at a time. Then, on the weekend, I should be able to fertilize, pick out the few straggling weeds, and maybe do some seeding.

I’m hoping that my lawn looks better by the end of the summer.

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8 NASB)

Dried Up

The winter rains we had here in Southern California have caused the bugs to be fruitful and multiply. Our yard has become a happy haven for beetles, flies, butterflies, ants and moths. The spiders are happy too, and fat.

This past weekend we got our first taste of the hot hot hot summer in the inland desert. As the temperatures approached the century mark for the third day, I noticed some unusual pods lying on our backyard patio. At first I thought they were empty spider egg cases, until I picked one up, and it disintegrated. I looked closer at another, and found that it was a dried-up moth.

Funny, how creatures made of dust could dry up and fall apart when they’re disconnected from their source of water and exposed to a little heat.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1:1-6 (NASB)