I have helped keep the weeds at bay in my school’s garden for several years now. I often pull a few weeds when I’m passing through (it is conveniently between my classroom and teacher’s lounge), but I sometimes do more significant weeding. Sometimes my students help me which is always cute (and occasionally helpful). They usually want to take home the wild onions they pull up. Sorry, parents!
I did a lot of weeding back in April and was excited to see that the Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) had spread this year. About a month later, while walking through the garden, enjoying some of the first yellow blooms, I realized half of what I had thought were the Black-eyed Susans were actually a different kind of plant. The leaves had looked so similar before the bloom, I couldn’t distinguish them. Only when it flowered was I able to clearly see what was a weed and what was the flower I had intended to cultivate. I quickly pulled up the weeds before they could go to seed and spread even more. There are many cute quotes about weeds being unloved flowers, but…I tend to think that weeds are a result of the curse. Weeds are invasive, spreading quickly and thickly, choking out the cultivated plants that bear good fruit.
This reminds me of a parable Jesus told. A man sowed good seed in his field, but the enemy came secretly and sowed weeds as well. When the plants began to grow, his servants recognized what had happened, but the master cautioned them not to pull up the weeds or they might also uproot the wheat. This could be because the weeds and the wheat were intertwined, because the weeds looked so similar to the growing wheat in the early stages, or both. When the harvest came, then the true distinction was made, and the two plants were treated very differently.
Only judging by the leaves, all the plants in the garden looked good to me, but when the blossom or the fruit came, the plants’ identity was made clear. Only then could the weeds be pulled up and thrown away without risking the growth of the flowers.
Grey areas that require patience and discernment are so frustrating for me. I wish that good and evil, the false and the true prophets, the wheat and the weeds could always be clearly distinguished from the very beginning. Then I could invest my time exclusively in the good and nip the bad “in the bud” before it has a chance to grow and spread. To be clear, I believe there are definite rights and wrongs. Some wrongs are easily spotted and just as I would quickly pull up any dandelions or wild onions I found in my garden, I avoid the clear evil and try to pursue and cultivate the clear good. However, when it comes to less clear issues, my own wisdom often falls short and a hasty decision can cause damage. When it comes to people, I need to be even more careful because I do not have the authority to judge the heart. In some situations, we just have to wait for fruit before we take action. No one knows the heart but the master gardener alone and no one knows what is for the good better than he. I’ll have to trust the tending of the garden to him. He knows how to bring in the harvest, generously sowing the seed, patiently waiting for the growth, tenderly gathering in the crop, and joyfully celebrating.
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