A few months ago, we moved into a new house. It was a very exciting time. But let me be honest, it was also a bit disheartening. Suddenly, living in a place where you have to do the gardening yourself, where there’s no longer a body corporate keeping the garden services in check, is an adjustment.

 

Where do we even take all the branches we’ve cut down? What do we do about watering and planning? When should we prune what, or plant something new?

 

Right. So little by little, we’re getting the hang of this gardening thing when we tackle the garden, as a family, on weekends. And then, of course, there are the weeds. Goodness! They’re everywhere and keep popping up – between the cracks in the paving, against the walls, in places I never thought anything could grow.

 

So, there I was one afternoon, pulling out weeds (which can be quite satisfying when you manage to yank them out, root and all), and I looked at that little pile and realised all those weeds had strong taproot systems. It’s actually kind of admirable to look at these tough little plants and see how resilient they are – the way those roots find even the tiniest bit of soil, and can twist and turn. Those leaves that shoot up from the most unlikely places. And honestly, a few weeks later, they’re just back again.

 

We probably don’t want to say we should be like weeds, but we can learn something from them: if only our faith could be anchored in God the way those roots cling to the earth. If we could only be as resilient and tough as those little plants that simply refuse to give up.

 

I won’t lie, in this wild world, being a little bit like a weed might not be such a bad thing after all.

 

Prayer: Lord, thank you that even in nature, through something as simple as a weed, you can teach me about faith. Help me stay anchored in you, and be resilient and tough when I need to be. Amen.