The Weed

It quickly became a curiosity to me.

A weed.

Growing through a crack in the concrete.

Here at the station.

Each day as I would pass by it on my way to the back studio I would size it up.

What started out so small was now so big.

Now I know why my grandparents used to tell me when I was a kid..

"Kurt you're growing like a weed!"

It was their way of saying you're growing up fast.

At least I hope that was their meaning.

Maybe it was "Kurt you're growing tall and ugly like a weed."

See how reading between the lines can get you into trouble?!

In a matter of days the weed grew almost to my waist.

No water that I could see.

No fertilizer.

No tender loving care.

And yet it thrived.

At home in my yard, it's a full time job to get my lawn and plants to thrive.

Despite my best efforts, it's two thumbs down.

Black thumbs, not green ones.

Then I realized my tall ugly weed was more than just a curiosity.

It was a reminder that sin is the weed of the heart.

We can cultivate it or neglect it.

Either way it just grows.

Ugly and fast.

Even in the heart of the Christ follower.

We trim our plants and our grass but who in their right mind would trim their weeds?

Only one way to get rid of a weed.

Tear it out by the roots.

Matthew 5:29 (ESV) "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell."

Weeds ignored can take over a property.

Sins ignored can take over a life.

I went to the back studio this morning as always.

No weed.

Not even a nub in the concrete where it had once been.

Turns out our treasurer, Paul Mead, had had enough of that weed.

"You pulled it up by the roots, didn't you?" I asked.

He smiled.

Wise man, that Paul Mead.