taking stock

It looks so innocent

My inventory of garden issues begins and ends with this:  weed, weed, weed.  It doesn’t matter whether it floated in on the wind, or whether I deliberately planted it…if it’s gotten out of hand, it has to go.  One of my worst mistakes required two and a half hours in the garden this morning.  I’ve left the houttuynia too long unattended, like a young child in a library, and it’s gotten into mischief.

Digging, digging, digging, sifting tough white roots…it was such a pretty plant, its furled, pointed leaves mottled with light and dark green and vivid red.  It had a sweet little white flower in spring, and a pungent, clean smell when cut.  I was warned that it could be invasive…but I didn’t listen.  It was just so pretty.

Now I’m less enchanted with it, as it insinuates itself amongst the coral bells and the new white rose bush, creeps under the pavers and comes up in entirely new and inappropriate places.  I’m feeling ruthless–dig it up, root it out, cover the whole area with black plastic and thick mulch.  Pray it dies, and keep an eye open for any little starts.  Be diligent.

My spiritual inventory sounds similar sometimes:  Allow a little inattention and a harmless hobby becomes a time-wasting compulsion.   Attractive-looking thoughts take root and multiply, inserting themselves where they don’t belong, getting bigger and uglier all the time.   Dig it up, root it out, smother it.  Heed the warning, be diligent.

I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. Proverbs 24: 30-31

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor. 10:4-6