April Jottings...

I like to think of myself as a knowledgeable and avid gardener. I probably fall short on both those counts but I think having a vegetable garden is worth the effort and I strive for a lush lawn and nice looking landscape. My biggest weakness is that I am often too little too late. To get the best results there are certain times of the year where it is best to prune, best to plant, etc. The timing of this is driven some by the plants themselves but more often by the weather we get around here, especially when it turns hot.

I did a good job killing the weeds in my lawn last September in preparation for renewing my front lawn. I did an ok job on aerating. The problem was I missed the window for seeding and so the various bare spots I had in my lawn since last fall are now greening up - only with weeds! Some of them I am spraying. Some of them I am pulling but it is going to be a yearlong battle until early next fall when I will again have the chance to renew my front lawn and get the grass seed sewn and watered and growing.

The best way to keep weeds out of one’s lawn is by keeping grass growing full so there is no place for a weed to take root. The weed seeds are lying there by the hundreds (thousands?), just waiting for the chance to spring up. A vegetable garden is slightly different in that it is probably not realistic to keep the garden weed free but to be aggressive in pulling/hoeing/killing the weeds before they get too big and established.

Now this column of mine in the Carelink newsletter is not meant to be a gardening corner. I shared what I did because it is a metaphor for our walk with God and sin in our lives. Like the lawn, the ideal is to keep the weeds out in the first place by keeping a lush lawn. This means more than just attending worship regularly. It means a personal devotional life of prayer and study. It means serving others and generous giving and living in community. And like the vegetable garden when sin does pop up we need to be aggressive in weeding it out.

No one with any sense who wants a lush lawn or a productive vegetable garden sets aside a corner just for the weeds. Yet we think we can hold on to our lust or keep the embers going of that anger towards a co-worker or family member and that it will not affect our walk with God or our relationship to others. Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave means that sin and death no longer have the ultimate say in our lives. Instead we can walk in purity and freedom and victory and forgiveness.

Celebrate that and live that with me.

- Pastor Brian