Drawing illustrations from Scripture, our religious instructors may sometimes urge us to “Be like a tree,” or “Be like the ant,” or “Be like a flower.” But did you ever hear the instruction, “Be like a weed”?
Setting aside for the moment noxious plants like poison ivy and bindweed, look at the common, ordinary weeds like the kind that grow up in the sidewalk cracks or along a building. Talk about persistence! If only our tomatoes and lettuce and begonias were so hardy!
One of the things that makes these weeds so vigorous is their ability to put down an effective root system. When I pull up a weed from between sections of sidewalk, I am sometimes astonished at the length of the root it has developed. It seems totally out of proportion to the small leafy structure that is visible above ground. Because that weed gets almost no rain and certainly no watering by me, it has reached far below the surface to find the moisture it needs.
Similarly, weeds I pull from the pebble-covered seating area of my yard have roots that serve them well. Because there is landscape fabric beneath the pebbles, these roots cannot penetrate deeply enough to find the water they require. Their water basin is quite shallow, so instead of growing a deep root system, they develop one that is very wide with many tiny fibers to draw in the necessary moisture.
These observations made me consider how we go about getting what we need—not food or shelter alone, but the things that nourish us inwardly like music and prayer, friendship and a whole list of other intangibles. (See entry, “Maintenance.”) We have to develop a system that brings us those things. Find out what works for you, and do more of it! Find out what doesn’t work, and stop putting so much effort into it!
Be like a weed!
MaryMartha
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email: mrymrtha@gmail.com
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