Twisting, curling, like aging fingers gripping the sidewalk. A few blow in the wind to populate right before our eyes, while others are more stealthy in their takeover. The reason for their domination is unknown, but evident regardless. 

Weeds take over a yard quickly! You don’t even know it was there until all you see is the unwanted guest. Sprouting up in gardens. Pushing through the cracks in the sidewalk like the concrete is nothing. Most are prickly to the touch and downright unsightly to the eye. Others attempt to mask their weediness by posing as a flower.

No matter how they present themselves, weeds are a nuisance to most people who live in the homes where they grow. Weeds take over gardens, choke out flowers and grass that the homeowner is trying to grow. 

People walking by a home with visible weeds will have different perspectives and opinions on the weeds’ existence, too. A few will walk by oblivious and not even notice the weeds, too busy and in their own world to even realize them. Others will walk by, see them, and not really care because, well, it’s not their problem, right? Then there are those who walk by, and the judgments start to roll in. ‘Why don’t they take care of their lawn better? Laziness is all that is, and the judgments just keep on coming. 

Honestly, I’ve been in all of those groups as I pass by my neighbors’ weed-infested lawns, with definite time spent in that last group of judges. However, walking by a few houses with weeds pretty prominent recently, I heard different thought paths running through my mind as my feet hit the pavement.

Maybe that house has a newborn, and the parents are so exhausted that pulling weeds is way down their list this week. Walking by another weedy yard, I thought perhaps that house has someone who is sick and does not have the physical strength to get out and pull right now. Another house overrun with weeds made me think that maybe the owner is not only physically unable but also that their finances to hire someone to help have taken another hit, reducing their ability to care for their yard. Maybe that house there sees beauty in its weeds. Those weeds at the next house, maybe they have some internal struggles where they are unable to look or step outside at the moment to even realize the weeds are there. As I walked on, the possible stories and lives that lived behind the weeds kept coming to me. 

Of course, that was the moment that I realized those thoughts were God whispers, and He was trying to show me something. Everyone has a story that I need to be sensitive to; I do not know what someone has gone through. Just as I do not know the reason for the weeds in a lawn, I don’t know the reason that a person has a scowl on their face. I don’t know why that man on the street gives me a blank stare as I smile and wave. That quiet person in the loud room may be going through an underlying struggle. I need to be sensitive and know that I can’t know everything that makes up someone on a surface level; it takes asking for their story to truly know the reason behind their seemingly ‘weedy’ appearance or actions. 

There are internal struggles people go through all the time that I am unaware of because, on the outside, everything looks okay. Perhaps those weed-filled lawns are healthier than the pretty manicured lawns. Maybe after a big storm, those pretty lawns get wiped out because their ‘prettiness’ was only on the outside and surface level, whereas the weeds may have strong, deep roots that cling to their home when the hard winds strike. Making their weed characteristics a survival need. 

We have all been weeds. We sin. We make mistakes. We don’t know it all. We don’t have it all together. We have bad days, weeks, years, and seasons. We have problems and issues that make our lives difficult, from being laid off from a job to a scary diagnosis to addictions; we have weeds pop up all the time.

Here is the beauty of our weed-like existence: we also have a Master Gardener. He knows exactly who we are. He knows exactly what we are made up of, weeds and all. He also has a plan on how to help us grow. He knows exactly what to prune to bring out the fruit in us all. If you have not met this Master Gardener yet, His name is God, three-in-one: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. If that wasn’t enough, you don’t even have to pay this Master Gardener. God is with us always, and His Son, Jesus Christ, already paid the price for us when He died for our sins. 

Friend, I pray that you come to know that Master Gardener or come to know Him even more. I pray that you allow Him to prune any weeds that may need tending, but, more importantly, I pray that you know God sees the beauty in you, even when you are still in the weeds.

With faith,
Melanie Drews
Paws on God’s Path