Weeding Through Our Perspectives
It was hot and humid. It was one of those days you could drip sweat just sitting still. There I was, out in my flowerbeds, yanking weeds. I’d love to say that I was rejoicing in my task at hand, basking in the sunshine, getting my fingers into the beautiful soil, and spending time with God. But I wasn’t. In fact, I was grumbling. My back ached. My knees hurt. My forearms were beginning to burn. It didn’t help that this dreaded task seemed never-ending.
Weeding always feels like an eternity to me, but on this day, it was bad. And I mean really really bad. I could barely find the mulch underneath the carpet of clovers…which then made me grumble about why we are all subjected to this job week after week, year after year.
All you had to do was NOT eat the fruit, Adam. THAT was easy. Weeding and all the other consequences of sin and the struggle between sin and godliness, now THAT’S hard. Then God whispered in my heart.
Are those REALLY weeds? Does the Bible say those plants in particular are the result of the fall? My eyes looked at those plant-weeds like I hadn’t just been staring at and scouring for them for the last two hours. God MADE these plant-weeds! They had beautiful, smooth green stems and leaves. Some even had little yellow and white flowers. They definitely fit the description of the “plants” created by God on day three. And here I was grumbling about them!
I guess not. I had no other answer for God. Then I found a few thistles. See?! Thistles! They’re DEFINITELY mentioned in Genesis. Thanks, Adam and Eve. When I finished with my sweat bath and dirt exfoliation and after I took a real shower, I went digging again. But not in dirt. Nope, this time in books, lexicons, and online articles.
As I mentioned, the majority of what I was wresting out of my landscaping was clover. Lots and lots of clover. Before I started, I literally had a carpet of clover in one area. As it turns out, clover is incredibly beneficial for the soil.
To begin with, clover is a legume, which means it’s in the same family as beans and peas. As with all other members of this plant family, it collaborates with bacteria in the soil to take nitrogen gas out of the air pockets in the soil and transform it into a form that is usable to other plants. Also, it has a long taproot that can access additional nutrients from layers of soil further below the surface. This means that clover makes other plants grow better. As if that wasn’t enough, bees LOVE clover. And the entire planet needs bees in order to pollinate plants, including those people love to eat such as apples, blueberries, and cherries. Without bees doing this service for free, people would have to hand pollinate or use robotics to pollinate these crops which would drive up the prices on these items. So, clover helps bees which help people eat delicious food more affordably. I don’t know, sounds like a great, free ground cover to me! AND it has seasonal flowers! Bonus!
I decided to take a look at another example of a common “weed.” Dandelions. I HATE weeding dandelions. I find them difficult completely extract which means…they keep coming back. But I discovered that again, dandelions are full of benefits that we so often overlook in our quest of perfectly manicured lawns and landscaping.
Dandelions benefit the soil. Like clover, their taproot draws up nutrients from deeper layers of the earth, making these vital nutrients available for other plants. But their roots also work in a way that is different from clovers. Dandelion roots spread far and wide and help break up hard soil, making room for air pockets which are important for microbes, creepy crawlies which are beneficial for the plants we culturally desire, and help prevent erosion. But the benefits of dandelions don’t stop there.
Dandelions are completely edible for people, from root to stem to leaves to flower. And believe it or not, dandelions are incredibly nutritious. They are packed with vitamins A and C as well as iron, potassium, and calcium. They were so prized for their nutritional value, in years past that people would weed out their grass to make room for dandelions. THEY WEEDED THEIR GRASS! TO MAKE ROOM FOR DANDELIONS! Unbelievable, yes. Historically true, also yes.
The grass that is so highly prized for its perfectly uniform glossy green look nowadays was considered a weed next to dandelions. Dandelions were so renowned for their dense nutrition and beneficial properties that eastern cultures used them medicinally for millennia.
Clovers and dandelions are just two examples of plants that God created that we used to prize but we now pitch. Out in my flowerbeds again, I was back to battling the clover carpet (because as much as I may disagree, clover isn’t a socially acceptable ground cover and…well…I have a corner lot). I began to think, Maybe it’s all just a matter of perspective. These plants weren’t always considered a nuisance, but somewhere along the lines our values shifted and with it, and the way we view these plants changed completely. Maybe I could take a lesson from this. Maybe it all really IS a matter of perspective.
When circumstances come up in my life that are unexpected, unasked for, and maybe even unwanted, I can choose to see it as a gift from God that helps me find learn anew to find my sustenance in Him. I can choose to see it as an opportunity to keep me deeply rooted in my faith in Christ and cultivate His character in my life. Instead of grumbling about life’s challenges, I can submit to God and allow them to help me grow the character of Christ within me which will enable me to better connect with God’s heart and connect others’ hearts to His. Maybe instead of grumbling, I just need to weed through my perspectives and get rid of the ones that don’t line up with God’s. And it can start right now, I thought as I reached down and wrapped my fingers around yet another clover and yanked it out. But this time, I was praising God and fellowshipping with Him in my heart. And guess what? I was still sweaty, grimy, and looking at a lot of green and red clovers, but I was no longer grumpy.
I praise You, God, for Your eternal love that is constantly working in our lives to make us more like You. We submit ourselves to You and Your ways and declare that we choose to trust You in every circumstance. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
*For more explorations of revelations God downloaded to me about the Garden of Eden and the fallout after the fall, check out my Weeding the Thorns and Thistles topical Bible study here.
Brennan, D. “Clover: Are There Health Benefits?” WebMD, LLC, 13 December 2020. Accessed from www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-clover
Hill, A. “13 Potential Health Benefits of Dandelions.” Healthline, 18 July 2018. Accessed from www.healthline.com/nutrition/dandelion-benefits
Petruzzello, M. “What Would Happen if All the Bees Died?” Britannica. Accessed from www.britannica.com/story/what-would-happen-if-all-the-bees-died
Sanchez, A. “Ten Things You Might Not Know About Dandelions.” Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners, Summer 2007. Accessed from www.mofga.org/resources/weeds/ten-things-you-might-not-know-about-dandelions/
Sargent, C. “The Various Advantages of Clover.” One Earth, 28 October 2020 Accessed from www.oneearth.org/the-various-advantages-of-clover/