Some weeks ago I heard a story on a radio show of a man trying to get rid of the weeds in his yard. It plagued his mind and made him all sorts of irritated to look out and see the unwelcomed flora taking over his lawn. Armed with concentrated, heavy-duty, spray-on weed killer in hand, he took to the yard on a mission to beat back the unwanted overgrowth and return once again to a beautiful landscape. This became his modus operandi for weeks as he diligently and vigilantly wreaked havoc on those pesky weed. Within a short span of time, however, it became all too clear that he had not only destroyed the unwanted weeds, but entire sections of his lawn in the process.
Ain't that the way? How many times have I found an unruly weed popping up in some area of my life and fought it back with some huge overcorrection that left the earth beneath my foot very nearly scorched?
When his wife finally convinced him to drop the bottle of liquid destruction, this gentleman realized he needed a new approach. He asked a pal with deeper and wider knowledge on the topic to come over and help assess the damage and cipher a better equation to both be rid of weeds and have a healthy lawn. Without much need for a tour of the very apparent damage the friend had only this to say: "If you want to get rid of weeds for the long haul, you plant more good grass."
There it is, folks. That right there? Profound.
I've got some lifelong and recent practice at all this, both the over-the-top ulitimately detrimental response, and the calculated casting of new seed to starve the unwanted of a life-supply. Those weeds, I've definitely got them; in my yard, in my house, in my relationships, in my time, in my mind, in my spirit, in my person. How I'm going to get rid of them, well, still remains to be seen.
For the month of October I am linking up with
the nester and a slew of others as we accept the challenge to write for
31 consecutive days. The site and comment section is abuzz as everyone works on deciding their 31-day focus and topics, themes and categories. I could think of nothing more relevant to the me-of-right-now than a month of writing centered on "planting good grass". As all things are - and few things aren't - it'll be a process. Nothing would make me more content than you reading along in October. And would you consider talking back in the comment section below? Let's think this thing through and work it out together.
My mind is swirling with ideas and inspiration. We'll see where 31 days takes us. Hopefully the grass will be truly greener and more plentiful on the other side.
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| here's my link image that will show up at thenester.com |
