Sinful stickers

We have an old in-ground pool in our backyard that was filled in with dirt when we bought our house eight years ago.  It had a crack in the side and flooded under the house causing some major foundation issues that were repaired before our purchase.  Now this filled in pool houses a tree and a huge orchid plant along with grass and some dreaded stickers.  Not the small kind of stickers but the huge goat head stickers that hurt like the dickens when pressed into your skin.

I have this lovely bay window in my kitchen that looks out onto this filled in pool.  I can’t begin to explain how many hours I have sat at the kitchen table longing for that filled in pool to be filled with blue water and not sticker filled dirt!  I have made it my mission this summer to get rid of the stickers.  My three chickies learned long ago to not go around to that side of the backyard because in variably one of them or all three would start screaming from having a sticker in their foot or both feet.

So one of my early days of summer before it got extremely hot I longed for that area to be a nice area where I could go out and read my Bible or just have a nice hang out spot under the tree in the corner to just talk to God.  I have this really nice huge tree where the branches and leaves hang over the back fence and create this oasis of shade in the afternoon.  I put a little soda shop table with two chairs out there and planted a fern and some other shade loving plants to create the ambiance I was craving.  In the morning time I would go sit out there with my big cup of ice water (no coffee for this momma chick) and my Bible and have some much needed quiet time.

One morning as I spent some time out there I decided to take on the monster of the stickers in this patch of grassy knoll that we had acquired.  But to my demise these stickers were a lot harder to get rid of than I originally thought.  I collected a huge handful of stickers that were growing on the ends of some grass, walked them to the outdoor trash can, lifted the lid and said good riddens.  I had a smile on my face of accomplishment and was very proud of the yard work I had accomplished before the blaring sun took hold of the day.

Much to my surprise the next morning as I took my little stroll around the pool more stickers.  But not just a few patches here and there, lots more.  So I pulled them.  Sweated and pulled.  Walked to the trash and dumped them.  This has gone on now for six weeks.  Pull stickers, say ouch a few times, grumble under my breath about these dang weeds that have taken over my serenity.  By this time I have an old flower pot I put all my stickers in as if I collecting them to make a bouquet or something and then make a trip to the trash can because my little hands just couldn’t hold them all at one time anymore. 

So I started doing research on how to get rid of stickers.  My husband told me you have to get them by the roots or just burn them.  Burn them?  It’s already over a 100 degrees outside, most of the grass is dying from the exhausting heat and you want me to set a fire in our back yard?  Do you know me and fire?  I quickly shook that thought out of my head and did some online research with not much luck of an easy route out of this situation.

One evening last week on my evening stroll around the grassy knoll and watering my plants I thought okay by the roots it is.  I will just pull these little suckers straight out of the ground.  No such luck.  Those things are tightly woven into the ground and the dirt is hard as a rock right now.  Dryness has overtaken the land of the grassy knoll; so I told God, next time it rains I’m pulling these awful things out of the ground.  I figured it would be almost fall before that would happen.

Yesterday morning I woke to the sound of sweet rain dripping off the window sill outside my bedroom window.  Aw sweet rain, thank you Jesus for the rain.  Most folks are like “Yes! Rain in the summer, my grass is so dry.”  I’m like “Yes! Good riddens you little twerps in my yard!”  We had a slow, steady, sprinkling rain all day yesterday and then again this morning when I woke up; only this rain was little more than a sprinkling.  First thing I did this morning after eating breakfast was go outside to my sweet spot.  I grabbed my bucket and went to work.  It was a nice cool 73 degrees, perfect weather for pulling stickers.  I started working and squatting up and down, breathing heavier to the point of when I stood up I was dizzy.  So I had the bright idea of I need a stool or something to sit on and I really need something to help pull these suckers out of the ground.

I went inside grabbed my handy, dandy laundry stool and went to the garage to find some gardening tools.  And then it hit me.  Or better yet, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said you know it’s like asking God for help with things and the stickers are like sin.  Wow. Really, just wow.  I never thought of it like that.  All I had to do was ask God to help me get rid of these stickers and not once in my quest had I done that.  I told God I would do it when it rained, again thinking that’s a long way off.  He sent rain just for me to do this work.

Once I sat on the stool and thought about it more I started to really see these stickers for what they were in comparison to sin.  Sin can take over our lives so quickly and easily that sometimes we aren’t even aware of it if we aren’t paying attention.  I pulled a sticker weed.  Easy.  Straight out of the ground; but it broke off half way down to the ground.  Just like sin, we are aware that we have sinned but think no big deal it was a tiny sin.  Then I came upon a patch of stickers.  Lots of stickers.  Bigger sin or better yet, that little sin has now festered into something more than we originally thought.  God put in my heart the stickers could be in comparison to alcohol, drugs, lying, cheating, stealing, etc.  Or in my case sugar addiction!  That one little piece of cake won’t hurt but then I eat the whole cake.  Not in one sitting mind you but throughout the course of the day.

I worked harder on the sticker patches.  Actually pulling them straight out of the ground with roots and all.  I was so proud of myself!  By this time my flower pot is getting full of sticker weeds, roots and all.  Then I hit a patch that just wouldn’t budge.  Wouldn’t come out the ground.  As hard as I pulled and struggled I wasn’t making a dent in it.  It was a huge sticker patch.  I noticed that the sticker patches look different than the regular patches of grass as well.  By this point I’m getting stuck by the stickers in my fingers and the sting is pretty painful.  Then it hits me like a ton of bricks…gardening tools.  Oh yeah, I brought those things out here for a purpose.  God spoke to me.  He is the tool.  He works when we call on Him. I stuck that thing down into the ground and wal-la the whole sticker patch came out.  Here I had been struggling and getting poked like crazy when all I had to do was pick up the tool and use it.  Call on Him to help me! 

Some of the stickers were hidden in the grass and some were barely growing out of the ground.  And did you know there are stickers by the roots?  Yes, by the roots.  Ugliness hidden in the roots just like sin. Before I knew it I was a sticker pulling fool.  I had my tool, my little stool and wasn’t saying ouch anymore.  I was pulling those plants right up by the roots.  Then I thought about my chickies and how this is in comparison to our children.  Sometimes they are going to have sticker friends in their lives that we as parents are going to have to work to pull out of their path.  They are going to have to learn how to deal with stickers in their lives.  I have three chickies and we have encountered some stickers along the way.  While we let them learn how to handle those stickers, or patches of stickers, we guide them in making the right choices and relationships.  Is it easy?  No!  Will it be hard?  Yes.

My twelve year old came outside right about the time I had a sticker patch by the roots in my hands.  I asked her, “do you see these roots?”  She shook her head yes.  I gave her the sin analogy and she got it.  I could see in her eyes she got it.  Then I compared it to her friends and relationships.  She told me, mom you need to tell Miss Leah this story (our children’s minister at church).  I just smiled and agreed.

As I’m typing this I have a part of a sticker stuck in my left index finger and it’s starting to fester up and hurt pretty bad.  Just like sin, if we don’t ask God to help us deal with the problem and ask Him for His forgiveness things will fester and before we know it we have a huge problem on our hands.  In my nightly reading I turned to James 1: 12-18

“12 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.”

Don’t be deceived by sin.  It may be enticing and calling your name but turn away from it.  Ask God for His direction in your life.  Allow the Holy Spirit to do great works in you.  Persevere under the trial so you can receive the crown that is awaiting you! The pain from the stickers will ease up and eventually as you learn to get control over it; it will not have control over you.  My prayer for you is that you allow God to be your gardening tool and work out those stickers in your life.