Yesterday I was outside with Sharon looking at a new lawn we put in about two months ago. We were out there because we noticed how the weeds seemingly jumped up, and are all over the place. Very distressing. We had a lawn care professional come by and he told us that because after installation we left town for over a month. It wasn’t getting the right care in that month when the grass really needed to “catch.” To me it seems the weeds “caught” faster than the real grass. The funny thing is that the weeds looks just as green and lush. They were well nourished to the naked eye. So nourished they started spreading.
Concerned at the amount of weeds that seemingly sprung up from nowhere, I called the lawn care company we hired to treat the grass when we returned to town. I asked the representative who answered what is the company going to do about all the weeds in the lawn. They were supposed to fertilize, spray and a host of other things to keep my lawn healthy and beautiful. I was puzzled by the amount of weeds. I just could not get past the unsightly look of the weeds permeating my lawn. Weeds of all shapes, sizes and textures. Some with thorns. Some without. Some tall. Some short.
The man replied with three words, “Trust The Process.” He then went on to say, “when you left town for a month after installation was a problem. Your installation was done in mid season. You missed three months worth of treatment for the lawn from the start of the year. There is a program we have to follow with the changes in the seasons. It was simply the time of year you did your installation. The grass does not know that. All it knows is that it needs feeding, sunlight, and care. When you were gone for that month it was not watered the way it should have been, and we were not yet onboard to treat it. Just give us a year and you will see a total transformation. Keep your eyes focused on the end result.”
After I listened to his well reasoned explanation, I realized there was a bigger lesson in here somewhere. I was reminded of the story of the wheat and the tares found in the Gospel of Matthew in the thirteenth chapter from the twenty fourth to the thirtieth verse. What I took from that less than one minute conversation with the lawn care professional is that there are critical timings when we must get things done, and often times we miss the windows. The biggest culprits are procrastination and fear. We need to care and feed our plans, but be careful not to simply uproot the weeds that pop up for fear of destroying everything. I could have pulled up all the weeds I saw by hand, but I would have a destroyed lawn because the patches of dirt that would be left. I was reminded that I shouldn’t pay too much attention to the distractions that seemingly spring up as I am being rooted in what I am supposed to be accomplishing on my journey to my purpose.
All that thinking seems lofty and goal oriented, however if we are truly honest with ourselves, things we thought that should have been done in a certain time frame are not happening. All around us there seems to be the appearance of “weeds”. The weed of anxiety because things are not moving fast enough. The weed of fear as we are currently in a pandemic with no end in sight. The weed of lack because resources are drying up, jobs are being lost, and savings are being depleted by so many who have been laid off and furloughed. For small business owners, the weed of uncertainty of whether the business will survive. The weed of dissatisfaction because of the station in life we find ourselves. The weed of worry about what kind of world we will leave for our children. Weeds everywhere. Just pick a weed and overlay it on your circumstances. Do you see the weeds?
Well if we shift our perspective a little bit we see a different view. There is much more grass than weeds. Just pick up where you currently are, adjust your plans, and get the fertilizer of wisdom and understanding from those who are where you want to be. Spend time with those who are growing through their weeds and find out how to do the same. Allow the weeds to grow right alongside you to make you stronger, not bitter. When the time is right, the lawn will be green and weeds will be gone. Then we can look back and see that the weeds were only an inconvenience on our way to deep and solid roots that now stand firm, healthy, and beautiful. Don’t get focused on the distraction of the weeds, but keep the focus on the end result.
Make the adjustments, change your perspective, but more importantly, “TRUST THE PROCESS!!!!!”