The weather around here is warming up, and I’ve been doing some outside yard maintenance. The yard has gone more or less neglected over the winter and I quickly noticed that something had taken over the ground in my backyard.
You know, you always hear that clovers are associated with luck – four-leaf clovers, etc. It is estimated that a four-leaf clover occurs in 1 in every 10,000 clovers. This rarity may, in fact, be why they began to be considered lucky. During my research on this topic, I learned that according to legend, Eve carried a four leaf clover from the Garden of Eden.
This is what I typically think of when I think of clovers. I say “typically” because I have now had personal experience with a backyard covered in clovers.
You see, the clover plant also has stickers that become dry and pointy come summer time. Anyone who had football practice during High School in Texas will know about doing bear-crawls in the practice field. This led to palm-fulls of stickers from these clover plants.
Remembering this, I began working on ridding my back yard of the clover plants before it gets too hot and my daughter goes to play barefoot outside. During my weed-pulling, I learned an interesting lesson I will now share with you.
I would see a string of clover plant and pull it out. As I did so, I would notice that particular string was attached to many others. In fact, I noticed that one clover plant would span out with a 5-12 inch radius from a central root. This root was dug in about 2-3 inches. An entire section of our backyard was completely covered with not more than 20-25 clover plants.
The Spread:
Can’t our sins be likened to the growth of this weed? If left alone, don’t our sins grow from one initial act of disobedience into a widespread, all-encompassing life of sin?
Think about King David. The root of his sin began as he “arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of [his] house“. For starters, his country is at war. Should he not be with the men of Israel? Besides it is late at night, he should be asleep, nevertheless, he is awake and trouble is sure to find you in such a circumstance. Secondly, ”he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” Like an internet pop-up or an inappropriate commercial, we are in positions all the time where, when tired, the sight of “a woman washing herself” tempts us to pursue sinful deeds when we should really just go get back in bed. Instead of doing just that, David then “[sends] and [enquires] after the woman“. Instead of reacting like Joseph when he was in Potiphar’s house, David goes to enquire after the hot, naked woman he has just been lusting over. Thus, David’s story culminates as he decides to “lay with her“. And like the story of Macbeth, David’s is down-hill from there. He ends up getting her pregnant, having her husband killed so he can marry her, and losing his exaltation in the process.
What began at one small point, spread to infect his entire eternal existence.
The Depth:
Not only did the clovers spread around the yard with a wide radius, they also dug in deep with a long tap-root. How deep do my sins go? How ingrained into my character have I allowed sin to become thru my own negligence of the situation?
We have a fallen nature. Sin travels deep. So deep, in fact, that we are incapable of “pulling our own weeds” so to speak.
Working out this analogy is what passed the time as I pulled a yard-full of weeds. I thought of the command to “harden not our hearts“, and to “have broken hearts“. Like soil, do our hearts need to be broken occasionally to prevent them from becoming too hard? Isn’t this whole analogy the point of Matthew 13? Are we good soil or poor soil for the word to be planted into? Are we growing in faith like the mustard seed? Are we a wheat or a tare?
When Adam got his new instructions pertaining to this life, they involved this theme of yard work and weed pulling. To contrast the Garden of Eden which brought forth only that which was pleasing to the eye and the belly of man, Adam was told what he could expect of the earth in mortality: ”Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” There would now be weeds for man to learn lessons about diligence and watchfulness. Instead of the Garden of Eden which brought forth its fruit spontaneously, Adam would have to till the earth and work the soil to reap a harvest in mortality. What valuable lessons this condition of mortality can teach us.
Have you weeded your garden lately?
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14 February 2009 at 7:38 pm
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