Michael Pollan
began his gardening experience adopting Ralph Waldo Emerson's perspective on
weeds: Weeds are simply plants whose virtues we haven't discovered. (Did
Emerson garden?!) Pollan’s experience quickly shattered the romance. He found
that once these nasty's are rooted in the garden, they will have to be wrestled
out before they will leave. And their scheme is to throw rowdy parties for
their "seedy" friends, who also want to linger when the party is
over. But it is certainly no party for the gardener.
Jesus understood the
life-strangling characteristics of weeds and used them as a picture of the
adversaries of a Christian's growth: What
was sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of
this life . . . choke it, making it unfruitful. (Mt.13:22). The weed of
worry was Jesus’ first concern.
I am a champion
worrier whose skills have been honed through years of practice. Like Laura
Simon, I can worry over the trivial as well as the eternal: “If there isn't an
impending catastrophe that requires my concern, I will find an ordinary event,
some more modest matter, to fret over and dwell on."
During my early
thirties I lead a small church. In my journals from those years, I sound like a
fretful mother agonizing over her baby's health:
- "Are we going to make it?"
- "How important are numbers?"
- "Do I measure the ministry on the
basis of my growth? or the church's? or both?
- "Are my gifts best suited for a
pastoral ministry?"
- "Would the church be better off
without me?"
Jesus instructed those
choked by worry to observe the growth of wild flowers: I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like
one of these. The valleys in the Black Hills of South Dakota are home to a
stunning array of wild flowers—the creamy lilies, the sunny black-eyed susans,
the shaggy bergamots. And these beauties shout a lesson: If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow
is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? The wild grasses live for a season. We will live forever. Isn't God
"much more" committed to beautifying his eternal creatures? When it
came to worries about my professional life, I didn't know the future. But as I
learned to trust the flowering of my life to the Gardener's hands, I relaxed,
knowing that my heavenly Father was "much more" committed to turning
my disheveled garden into a creation of greater beauty than the mountain
meadows.
What worries are
choking your life? Do you worry about losing your job? about the tension in your marriage? about
the safety of your child? about your retirement income? about potential severe
weather? Jesus challenges us: “Do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” or
“What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ... Your heavenly Father knows
that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness—and all these things will be added onto
you.” If we direct our time and energy and thoughts toward pursuing God, He
will take care of the rest. What a promise from our faithful Father!
