Thistles

“Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you…” Genesis 3:18

A garden is one of the purest and simplest pleasures in life. Ms. Ellie and I have a small, city-slicker-sized garden – a couple of raised beds and a few terra cotta pots arranged here and there, all loaded with herbs. Our herb garden has become a sanctuary that distracts me from life’s business and provides me with a quiet place to ponder life’s pressing problems. It is a place I meet with God. He talks to me as I am weeding, tilling, planting, watering, pruning, harvesting, and (did I mention?) pulling weeds.

A while back I saw a homegrown sign beside a neighbor’s front door that read, “Ring the doorbell. If no one answers, pull weeds.” I so get that! It’s a never-ending, can’t-turn-your-back-on-it task that every serious gardener must come to terms with. For me, it’s not such a big deal. How many weeds can two four-by-four foot beds beget?

I do remember helping my granddad weed his quarter- acre garden. It only took about 15 minutes in the sun to realize I had signed up for the wrong labor camp and that this grunt work would better serve my cousins.

I love it when God uses garden themes to talk to me. In fact, several years ago, I was in church, standing, head bowed, praying. I opened my eyes and saw I was standing in a garden. I took note of the rich, dark soil, perfectly tilled. Everything was in perfect order for planting. My attention was drawn to a plant just ahead and off to the right. I immediately recognized it as a thistle that was about to go to seed. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Rick, don’t let that thistle go to seed.” I knew immediately what that meant.

The thistle has been the bane of farmers since the gate got latched at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. It is not so much found in barren ground as it is found in good ground that has not been properly maintained. In agriculture it is the recognized sign of untidiness and neglect.

Thistles have a very extensive root system and will soon monopolize a garden to the extinction of the other plants. Once a thistle seeds (often referred to as thistledown), it can disperse up to 1500 seeds, spread by the wind, which can remain viable in the landscape for 10 to 20 years. This sort of reminds me of how sin operates in our lives.

Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death (James 1:15). Like the thistle, sin has an expansive and invasive root system. Sin competes for space, nutrients and Sonshine. It grows at an astounding rate, negatively impacting everything it touches. Within a single season, sin can overwhelm a person’s life to the annihilation of all things good. Sin gets a toehold in a person’s life when their relationship with the Father is neglected.

Nurturing and cultivating your relationship with God is very much like tending a garden. Much attention is put into developing fertile ground. But then seasons of neglect can be upon us before we know it; our casual proclivity in the relationship gives rise to thistles.

In the examination of your spiritual garden, is there a thistle that is about to go to seed? If so, pull it up by the roots. Do not let it go to seed.