Have you done any weeding lately? Maybe you don’t have to bother with that anymore in your living circumstances. Maybe you are not capable of weeding. Maybe you are putting off weeding so haven’t done it for a while. Well, I did some weeding in a bed of dense growth. It was a matter of getting all the miscellaneous little plants out that don’t belong there. And because of the dense ground cover, you have to really look at each little section of dirt and examine all of the leaves to find the invaders. It is definitely detail work. And there were a lot of weeds.
As I weeded I thought about how it had gotten this bad. I thought about how tedious and painstaking it is to clear out the weeds. I thought about how if I did this weeding more often it would not seem so burdensome and overwhelming.
In many ways, weeding is like the spiritual life. You may wake up one morning and wonder, how did this happen? How did I get to this point in my life? How did things get this bad? Why haven’t I done anything about it? Maybe you are ingrained in an addiction. Or having severe difficulties in a primary relationship. Or feel isolated and alone. Or don’t feel connected to God/the sacred/ love. Perhaps someone makes a comment to you or you read something and a light goes off and you suddenly see how far you are from where you intended. Time for some weeding to get to where you want to be.
As with weeding, the longer we let things go in our spiritual lives, the longer we procrastinate, or stay in denial, the harder and more painstaking it is to address the problems. Staying on top of things prevents issues from getting worse and makes them easier to resolve. As usual, the best cure is prevention. And in terms of the spiritual life, that means vigilance. Paying attention. Noticing what is going on. To do that we may need to turn off the TV/iPod/radio/computer/cellphone and make sure we are giving ourselves quiet time and space to think and feel and reflect.
Lent is the perfect time to create or re-establish your connections and to do it through quiet reflection.
Prayer: May we have the discipline and desire to pay attention to our spiritual lives. May we also have the courage to address the problems, concerns, and issues that we notice. By maintaining constant vigilance we make the way clear for divine love flow through us and bless the world. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 