With all the rain we had this year, anyone with a lawn or garden has had a bumper crop of weeds. James Taylor, a United Church layperson whose insights I admire, came up with the following lessons we can learn from weeds.
“Life Lesson 1: It’s harder to uproot our faults than to harm our better qualities.”
It is also harder to spot our faults if we don’t take a closer look at our lives. Bad habits are easy to get into and harder to stop.
Read Also
Communication key to bridging generation gap
Each generation is shaped by the predominant forces at play during their formative years. Acknowledging these influences can improve communication among the generations.
Taylor admits it is easier weeding the garden since he had planted it and knew where good plants should be coming up. But this takes experience, as any parent knows who has let a three year old loose on a weeding binge in the vegetable garden.
You need to know what you are looking for in life. That isn’t easy. When it comes to our values and our sense of purpose, it often takes many of us a good part of a lifetime to figure that out.
“Life Lesson 2: Eliminating the visible evidence of one’s faults and shortcomings accomplishes little if the roots of that behaviour still lurk just below the surface.”
Taylor said weeding the garden was least productive when he got greedy or impatient and tried to pull a handful at once. That’s when fragile stems snapped off, and left the hidden roots harder to dig out.
Hand weeding may take time and effort. It is tempting at times to resort to the chemical answer. But some weed killers do not have any discrimination. They attack anything in sight, whether it is ultimately good or bad for us.
The same goes for our personal lives. Many people are disappointed if they don’t get a prescription when they leave a doctor’s office. We look for a pill to take away pain or give us a sense of contentment. Whether it is nicotine, alcohol or other substances, many people will smoke or pop anything to give them a high, however dangerous it may be.
“Life Lesson 3: It’s probably more effective to conquer one’s flaws one at a time, and make gradual but confident progress, than to attempt a wholesale conversion of one’s personality and keep slipping back.”
Whether a person uses a 12 step approach to deal with a flaw or seeks guidance from a counsellor, there is no such thing as the quick cure. Anything of worth and substance takes time to get.
Pouring a strong herbicide on a gravel driveway may get rid of the weeds, but if the natural drainage of water goes to your garden or lawn, you may get unwanted results. Strong language and rigid morality can do this to our life as well.
Taylor has a book, Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Books, and offers a free e-mail weekly newsletter that can be received by a request to him at jimt@quixotic.ca.
Peter Griffiths is a mental health counsellor based in Prince Albert, Sask. His columns are intended as general advice only. His website is www.sasktelwebsite.net/petecope.
