Flower Bed Learnings, Part 2

My ventures out into the yard to tend to our flower beds unexpectedly provided me with inspiration and insight into my own spiritual journey. Here is the second thing I learned that weekend:

Even good stuff (grass) can creep where it doesn't belong

and begin to feel like bad stuff (weeds).

Like many other North Texans, I am happy that my grass is surviving the summer heat and looks green without draining my wallet to water it. However, as I spent time close to the earth last weekend, I noticed a disturbing trend at the edges of my yard - "grass creep" (I just made up that term).

When my grass grows it puts out shoots that grow horizontally (along the ground) and roots that grow vertically (into the ground). The only things that keep the grass from encroaching are solid boundaries - i.e. sidewalks, driveways, curbs, the patio, the foundation, and flower bed borders.

Since I did not install flower bed borders on the two beds in question here, the "grass creep" was unsuccessfully being held at bay by my weekly weed-whacker trips. Needless to say, I might have won a few battles along the way, but the grass was winning the war.

As I pulled out more and more roots and shoots (s0me of which had weaved themselves into the weed block) I knew that something permanent must be set up in order to avoid facing this same battle week after week, month after month, and year after year. I discovered that I needed to set up appropriate boundaries on the flower beds to keep something good from becoming something unhealthy.

Here's the spiritual application...

Some of us are "on" 24/7 and fail to take the appropriate steps to unplug from the world on a regular basis. We have let our jobs, careers, ministries, etc. become overwhelming in our lives. We have let a good thing encroach upon our whole lives to the point that there is such entanglement we can no longer tell where we start and the employee (boss, CEO, lawyer, pastor) stops.

Perhaps the best thing some of us can do to renew our spirits is to establish boundaries in our lives that actually prohibit encroachment from otherwise good things on certain days, weeks, times of the year. Perhaps we need to reclaim our Sabbath-taking heritage. Perhaps we need to turn off our cell phones every once in a while. Perhaps we don't need to sleep with our laptops right next to our beds. Perhaps...

Because when we experience "grass creep" in our lives we are less able to live into the calling that God has on our lives. We are less able to experience true rest and rejuvenation. We are less able to slow down and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Remember, grass is a good thing to have growing in your yard, but it becomes a nuisance when it gets into your flower beds.

What parts of your life have experienced "grass creep"? What does your Sabbath ritual look like?

Previous post in this series: Part 1