Theological Weeding

Thanks to my friend Judy, I am now passing my time weeding contemplating theological issues.  When last I wrote about weeding, I was not thinking Godly things at all.  But my sister Irene responded and I've changed my thinking.

I was blaming the weeds, calling them sneaky and a wolf in sheep's clothing.  But as I was weeding just a few feet away from those weeds, I found a new enemy.  This one too, was masquerading as the desired plants.  I was weeding out the clover from the ornamental strawberries.  The soil, light, and watering conditions are not much different, but a different weed had taken over.  But it wasn't the weed's fault.  It was the way I had reacted to the weeds.

Let's go back to my definition of a weed: a weed is an undesirable plant.  It's a plant that has planting itself where you don't want it. The weeds to the left are easy to spot.  Nothing else is growing there.  I didn't plant them.  They are not a plant I want.  They are weeds.

But the ornamental strawberries that have sent runners into the area where I've planted pansies are also weeds.  I like the ornamental strawberries but they have planted themselves where I don't want them.  They are also weeds.








There are people who actually like dandelions.  For all I know, there are people who intentionally plant dandelions.  There are definitely people who harvest dandelions for their salads or to make dandelion wine.  Most of us would agree that we do not want dandelions growing in our gardens.  There are dandelion weeders and most herbicides list dandelions as something it will kill.  If you have dandelions in your lawn, there are fertilizers that you can add to promote your healthy grass while killing the dandelions.* (See the bottom of this blog entry for an explanation.)  So most of us know what dandelions look like.  As soon as we see those bright yellow blossoms, we make plans to get rid of the plant.  We may tolerate a child blowing the dandelion puffs, but we also cringe at the thought of each one of those seeds growing into a weed we will have to pull out.  Dandelions are an easy weed to spot and there are plenty of ways to get rid of them.

But as I've said earlier, we don't have a lawn in our garden.  We have used other ground covers that do not provoke our allergies.   So that means weeding.  Our ground covers do not look like dandelions.  I can still spot these weeds and take care of them fairly easily.  But near our door we have elfin thyme.  It has tiny round leaves and the plants hug the ground and spread outward.  So when the weed with tiny round leaves and the plants hug the ground and spread outward started growing, I don't notice right away.

And where the ornamental strawberries with their three smallish leaves on a plant that spreads with runners are growing,  I didn't notice so much when the clover with their three smallish leaves on a plant that spreads with runners started in.  It was harder to spot.








Ready for the theology?  There is sin that's easy to spot.  There are some activities that most of us notice right away and we know to keep our distance.  If we are drawn to it, we pretty much know that we are violating the standard moral or ethical code.  But there is sin that's not so easy to spot.  Maybe it's a good activity, but done at the wrong time, the wrong place, or just too often.  Or maybe it's an activity that is OK for some people, but not for us.  We can easily do this type of activity and it's fine at first.  But slowly, without our noticing, it becomes sin.  It takes over our lives.  And then it's hard to stop.

When the clover started growing, I saw some of it.  But I'd heard clover actually adds nutrients to the soil.  And the red-leafed clover is very hard to notice with its dark leaves on the dark soil.  I consciously allowed the clover to grow, hoping the strawberries would be able to hold their ground.  And after all, the runners get so tangled with the runners from the strawberries.  I think I will get around to weeding later.  Just like those little sins we don't worry too much about, they got out of hand and I'm having to work a lot to make the change now.

Are you still with me?  Now I have a gift for you, if you want it.  I was weeding around the pansies and found this lavender "weed."  I planted lavender, but not there.  This little guy planted itself in the wrong place.  I put it in a pot and I'm fairly sure it will make the transition to container living, at least for a while.  If you want it, and it's still alive, you can have it just for the asking.  First come, first served.  (Assuming we can make arrangements for the transfer that works out.) Just leave a comment, and say you would like to give this lavender plant a home.

* Dandelions are dicots and grass is a monocot.  These herbicides kill the dicots.  That works just fine when trying to kill weeds in your lawn.  If you use these products to kill dandelions or other weeds among your shrubs and flowers which are also dicots, you will kill your desired plants. And yes, there are actually herbicides that kill grass that grows in among your flowers.