I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love….neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow…Romans 8:38 (excerpted)

Have you ever noticed how those pesky weeds in our yards are so hard to extract? Their determination to live is so much greater than the nice little bedding plants we find each spring in our local garden centers. And have you ever wondered why an unattractive weed is able to defy heat and drought while those beauties from said garden center sometimes die quickly even if we water them well? The answer is that the weed is native in that location. You didn’t plant it. The wind or an animal deposited a seed that sprouted and instantly set to work putting down a deep taproot in search of water. It began its life facing and overcoming the elements. Your pretty bedding plants have been pampered from their very beginning. The weed will return again if not completely eradicated, whereas the annual bedding plant will only last the season. One has deep roots, the other shallow.

And did you know that some plants once considered weeds have become staples in our garden beds? With looming water shortages and the high cost of keeping our beds moist, many gardeners are turning to native varieties….and, yes, we do have a lot of welcome weeds in our yard. They’re considered native when they have lived and reproduced in a region for a period of time and become acclimated to the local soil, moisture, and temperature conditions. For instance, I can plant coreopsis, coneflowers, and columbines as well as oak leaf hydrangea and native lilies with good assurance of a return on my labor investment. When those roots burrow down deep and create a firm foundation for the above-ground portion of the plant, my beds will be filled with happy, healthy plants that will provide beautiful blooms for many years.  

Don’t go digging from nearby fields and wooded areas without some research though, because some natives don’t transplant well. Their aggressive taproots become severed when dug and those varieties still need to be supplied by a native plant grower or seeds from a generous neighbor. But, when all is said and done, the best path to really healthy, long-lived plants is to use the species varieties or plants that are truly native. Sometimes they aren’t as showy, but they provide very reliable foliage and blooms. Give their roots the home they crave and just be patient. Often the good weeds will crowd out the unwanted ones, but some will always remain aggressive and need to be extracted with a good shovel and a lot of elbow grease.

Sometimes we face worries, usually unexpected and often immediate, that become like weeds trying to invade the soil of our lives. We assess the concern, develop a plan that typically has a short expiration time, implement our plan, and move on. Much like the annual plant that requires lots of short-term attention to achieve good results, these worries have shallow roots.

For example, last Friday we headed out the kitchen door to go grocery shopping and discovered that our garage door wouldn’t open. A quick inspection revealed a broken spring. OK, this situation wasn’t too bad. Our car was in the garage but the truck was out. We still had transportation that didn’t involve manually handling a heavy garage door. It was, however, Friday afternoon and service-related businesses were ready to close up shop for the week-end. We did find a company online that had good reviews and they had a service opening first thing Saturday morning. Of course, I was still fidgeting over whether or not we had made the right decision. Hey, somebody has to carry the worry burden.

Our serviceman called at 7:30 AM on Saturday and said he was on his way. By 10:00 AM, we had new springs and bearings, the door was operating like new. Our worries were just a memory. Shallow roots, remember?

But there are sometimes worries that burrow deep into our souls and, just like those aggressive weeds, their roots sap nourishment from

our reserves of faith and hope, leaving behind nothing but doubts and questions. An errant child who just keeps making bad decisions well into adulthood, a health diagnosis that seems to paint every aspect of life in shades of gray, a long-term loss of income that appears to have no end in sight. Sometimes it’s simply the culture that surrounds us, seemingly void of Godly believers. We find ourselves buried under the weight of our load. And when we try to go it alone, we lack the tools to extract the root causes of our worry.

Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees…and he said, you are very precious to God….Daniel 10:10 Paraphrased

When worries enter our lives, and they will, whether they creep in slowly or descend in an instant, there is only One who can dig out those roots and help us find peace again. I truly hope you know my God, my Jesus.