Monday, August 8, 2022

Inevitable - Plants and Weeds

 







 

We had a funny episode yesterday. Ranger Bob decided to move the soil from his non-productive flower boxes and donate the contents to my yard. Soon the truck appeared with a load of soil and three men, so I went to get my shoes on and see where they were putting it.

Two mounds of soil were parked on top of two Coconut Daisies, which I had planted and watered almost daily during the drought. The soil movers left the scene quickly, so I grabbed my roll of POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS and stretched the tape across the entrance to the backyard.

We had a laugh over the plight of the two plants and a ton of soil covering them. Moreover, a thick layer of wood mulch was also buried.

Gardeners soon learn this - or abandon the hobby. "Every year will be great disappointments and even greater surprises." This year, my collection of butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees reached a peak, where all three creature groups conspired to generate a constant display to enjoy. In the afternoon shade, the sun is behind the house and we drink coffee and watch. The fearless hummingbirds come within inches.

The Coconut Daisies were prospering in the Rose Garden while suffering in the burning heat of the backyard fence area. 

The Gospel lesson for Matthew 7:15ff is quite clear - weeds produce nothing of value, but good plants can only produce good fruit. Even the Rugosa Rose is doing its part. That plant is not much for roses but produces big, fat, red seed pods called "hips." The hips are loaded with Vitamin C and invite 

  • birds to gather them, 
  • people to make rose hip tea for colds and poxes.

 "I am stuck on Unstuck Church, cuz Unstuck's stuck on me. I am..."

"Barry Manilow took a break from singing “Mandy” to write the popular “I am stuck on Band-Aid” jingle in 1976. This jingle, and the commercial it was part of, were all over TV in the 80’s. The campaign even went on to receive a CLIO award for excellence in advertising. People haven’t been able to get the song out of their heads ever since!"






The laughable clowns like the Unstuck zombies try so hard to develop a product they can sell to the desperate. I can give away a non-secret: "Those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins and rose from the grave - they will produce fruit, the nature of God's plan. That fruit will glorify God in every possible way."

If you search for these men's failures, look around. Their rapidly growing weeds have filled the world with astonishment and prompted this question - "How do we get rid of them?"